The Peace River Pantoums I wrote several poems in the form of a pantoum while in the Peace River part of British Columbia. The pantoum is Malayan in origin and came into English language poetry from France. Victor Hugo gave it fashion and popularity in his book ‘Orientales’. The pantoum is unusual among strict forms […]
SHUTTLE BOY A child’s head breaks out of the blue lagoon A beautiful bronzed boy thin like a cheetah surges skyward Impelled upward by eight clenched hands Cupping calloused feet. The platform of toes in sand sinks downward in lift off As thrusters of feet, thighs, arms and clenched mouths Explodes through Polynesian surf Expending […]
My Progenitors I Think twice before scorning our Spineless Progenitors Amebas Slugs bugs spiders bees beetles jellyfish corals lobsters crabs They ruled the world. Still Purify water Pollinate crops Recycle nutrients Keep soils productive. Now one in five of the spineless face extinction Because of the upright Dragons Whose Fashion manias gross domestic production Consumption […]
Shifting shuffling mukluks of seal Seen and Unseen In White out as Snow slices air. Shifting shuffling mukluks of seal Electrons knife the ice Tangentially chill With a whistles will An Inuit hunter Clothed inside out and outside in by caribou hollow hair Feels belly sweat trickle and suck From steady snow shoe gait Across […]
Heeling Over For Love A forceful gust healed my catboat So I grasped a windward hold. Beneath the boom amorous sailors Held fast in close embrace. White water overwhelmed the combing. Wet clothing cold to flesh was clinging The drop keel hummed the hull As the bodies of my shipmates trembled Clinging each to each […]
AMISH TRADITIONS I woke up in Amish town Centre of mixed farming Where hard working folk In black stockings, long dresses Full beards, and bracers Resist outside ways. No monocultures here, But pigs, cows, fallow fields In crop rotation Corn, millet, alfalfa, wheat A quilt of colourful rural squares in Pennsylvania. From my hotel window […]
THE RED TRICYCLE On weekdays My Mom went to make hats At a milliners’ shop. My brothers left me too To go to school. So my grandma would give me Lunch in a packsack And I would go off to work on my red tricycle To meet the milk man, the post man Feel the […]
Silly City Campers As an outdoorsman I’ve often mocked Weekend silly city campers Who walk in circles and get lost. Then near Harrison Lake I took a circle route around a beaver pond And got lost in looking At a whiskered ‘kastoro’ that mesmerized me As it mouth moved fresh cuttings With gleaming teeth And […]
MAURICE QUINTON He laughed with his eyes He having neither lower lip Nor tongue nor cheek. From an open throat Drool dangled as saliva siroped Onto the kitchen table Where we sat. A sign on the front door had said, ‘Caution, he who enters here Must expect a gruesome apparition’ I had come for a […]
After Skiing Fingers on chopsticks Search for morsels in stir-fry Sand pipers in Succulent estuary
Myna Bird Alien Import A myna bird ran along the bamboo restaurant railing Head up, chest out, tail feathers down It lifted its’ legs and feet with the gait of a harness pony And charged towards the finish line The sweepstake prize A woven basket with the lecturer’s Golden-crusted scones In Papeete, Tahiti. Peter Crawford, […]
OLD OR YOUNG Pedestrian plodding pavement Head down, stooped, shoulders hunched Like fragile porous bones had slumped. Osteoporosis, a trapped old man! But my surmise was trumped. A youth was hidden in the form Fingers ipadding a digital game Young but old in posture
THE MOTH CHILD As a moth circles a lamp As if for something yearning But gets scorched wings As a child in a dingy dory I circled a basking shark for learning What it was Its’ white belly was up while dozing I made tighter and tighter loops. My outboard motor smoked and roared. Jolted […]
DINING WITH A GECKO About to savour succulent mahi mahi from my fork I pause with morsel at mouth in the Polynesian dining pavilion When above my head a soft, moist diamond slowly extends its’ toes A sparkling green, gray gecko in lantern light At first one, then two and finally three And splays them […]
PILOTING DADDY’S BUICK I would pilot Daddy’s buick It was my Lancaster true Hoodycloak my airmans’ tunic Bomber commander in the blue Sat high on his thigh Lets climb the sky! Legs wide on his lap His arms safety strap Let’s take off he said My fists to gear shift sped Then wheeled with delight […]
The Peace River Pantoums I wrote several poems in the form of a pantoum while in the Peace River part of British Columbia. The pantoum is Malayan in origin and came into English language poetry from France. Victor Hugo gave it fashion and popularity in his book ‘Orientales’. The pantoum is unusual among strict forms […]
I was a teacher driving to work When I saw a golden retriever Convulsing on the shoulder. Ottawa freeway. Victim of hit and run. I pull over, stop, walk back. Rain beating on glossy asphalt. It’s screaming Writhing in pain Bleeding nose, bulging eyes, broken legs Groans, gasps, Cars swoosh past. End its’ pain. My […]
Heritage Restorations Are you searching for decoration tips For your authentic colonial home renovation? Where can you find wallpaper designs period correct? You want to end your fussing about china décor, floral or? You simply have to find fabric, pattern perfect. Rats, the answer could be filed closer to your slippers than you think. You […]
BEHIND COLD GLASS I first knew Dad by image Black and white photo Grey uniform behind glossy glass Or held him as embroidered Red wings outlined in gold Mom lifted me at night To recognize him He being at war I smudged wet kisses on the Cold glass of his air force face I knew […]
THE SHINY WALLET I would climb Daddy’s lap and belly Like a big cat and child jabber questions. His newspaper slapped and flapped as I Jumpily squirmed and headed my eyes Around daily newsprint in his hairy arms. And got tangled in bracers that I snapped. Sometimes he had toffees among the coins in his […]