Poetry

Deciding to Wear an Enormous Hat

At first the idea of the hat might have been a cover-up, a need to move through the world without being seen. But down deep, I know that wanting led to it and not the other way around. The hat became a strange kind of mask, like some feathered piece, a shaman’s tool,...

Identity Crisis in Reflection

Teresa lifted a stone from the beach and it spoke to her saying: “I am God.” “There was one thing which at first I was ignorant: I did not know that God was in all things, and, when He seemed to me to be very present, I thought it impossible. I could not cease...

Teaching an Old Dog

Every afternoon my dog takes me for a walk. We begin by getting very excited running circles of gratitude in the hallway for the mere idea of walking. Once outside, she makes me practice my lessons. Run as fast as you can for no reason. Chase things you have no hope...

Dostoevsky

He was a man unconvinced by pancakes. He said that as she licked the syrup off her fingertips, Funny, it happened all the time, though she never touched He was a man unconvinced by pancakes. He said that as she licked the syrup off her fingertips, Funny, it happened...

The End of Marriage

When snow is falling it’s possible you’ll feel listless. Snow, after all, smothers everything, street signs, garden lanterns, the sad hump of the dog buried in the yard three years ago, what you can and cannot see. When snow is falling it’s possible you’ll feel...

Lakeshore

Arriving at the lakeshore one morning I came upon a poem Arriving at the lakeshore one morning I came upon a poem not of pristine sailboats cutting into precise horizons nor of the watercolour sunrise, nor even of the sound the water makes as it drags itself like...

Mother Earth at the bar

Truth be told, sometimes she gets bored of the bowing down, all that blessing her with gentle hands. Come night she wants to wade through a mess of hips and eyes Truth be told, sometimes she gets bored of the bowing down, all that blessing her with gentle hands. Come...

Cousin

yeah, I’d say he was surprised to see me, out of my loop, so to speak, so was he, my cousin Mel in a small-town hospital, playing patient, not doing a good job either, his big-boat Buick poised in the lot for getaway yeah, I’d say he was surprised to see me, out of my...

Into Grains of Sand

The 2nd place poetry winner of our 2005 contest, "Into Grains of Sand" by Zoya Harris of Vancouver, BC. I. Your dog sleeps on the back seat, a blanket spread below his dream-twitches like the blue night spreads across the open road. I can’t imagine you beside me, a...

Overwintering

The winner of our 2005 Poetry Contest. And see how the flesh grows back across a wound, with a great vehemence, more strong. —Jane Hirshfield I. She hovers by the filament lamp hard pellet in her abdomen and watches in the blackness his feet swallowed up in rough...