Jan Zwicky's "Cashion Bridge," variation one

it would be as well to have failed,
in the light that dark remembers

with vanity, expedience, an unquenchable thirst
to the difficulty

of driveways

shifting slightly in the clarity
of concrete gleam; anticipation,

nothing; the inarticulateness of placemants
present meaning
imagining
the emptiness – loss, failure, stutter

in the pure unnarrative light

even history is mortal; a rubber boot,
stoves, tires, & a box

of ontario readers

the broken quarter round and raised

the knife edge singing

 

Meredith Quartermain's "I Canadian dream of English," variation one

dream im crazy, engine
on gearwheels – houses, rafters
lets draw our enigmas

a dozen turns wheels
in a body, names trunk root,
need sleep in means,

in blood or bloodlet thicker than shining

is the next stop heaven? through
bellowing clouds at sequence,

clusters of public facilities
making chemical to play,

below hello; you ask,
because a stone spire

must listen carefully; an aching sigh

and the fault-lines in strange

Copyright © rob mclennan, 2006.

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rob mclennan lives in Ottawa, even though he was born there. The author of ten trade collections of poetry, he is editor/publisher of the online critical journal Poetics.ca & the poetry annual, Ottawater . He often says things on his clever blog.