your sun’s what they come for/ when they come for you
byi. I silence sun only in the desert seams increase the difference degrees between night and day horizons shrivel squinting oasis our symbols sand…
Poetry
Oral History
byGun shots against the low-slung sky though it is no season for hunting. Or perhaps it was firecrackers, not fourth of July; someone always…
Ten things made
byI make marks on cloth with needle and thread little trails, small tracks that lead to somewhere. We make our bed on a borrowed…
Ten Things I Carry With Me
byAfter Gerald Stern Here, in this handbag, I carry a portable particle collider. Here, in this handbag, I carry a Toronto neighbourhood. I carry…
December Debt
bySwitchback winds blow argyle rain—momentary diamonds dissipating beyond our grey winter window. We hide the unpaid bills in books—keeping pleasant fiction places with Past…
Good Yet
byThe old farmer stands at the end of the lane, big smile plastered on his face, waving goodbye. His coveralls are stained with work,…
Pea-Shelling Pantoum
byRaindrops’ procession percussion on porch metal awning matches the cadence of empty soldier-green hulls striking the timpani-tight bottom of No. 2 washtub as our…
Dusk Amid the Cornfield
byClad in plaid and denim overalls, the solitary figure traipses at twilight across acequias into elongated rows of husky stalks bedizened in tassels, silk…
Shadows on Snow
by“There’s something about shadows on snow,” she told me. So I noticed too— midnight-blue shadows of winter-stripped branches printed on midday snow. When you…
Winter Haiku
bySnow-fog hides houses on the opposite shore. Faith insists they’re still there. * A perfect silence in the winter field—the sound of snow alighting….