For C.D. Wright and in memory of Frank Stanford
The dismal he did so well,
it
went down smooth and easy.
Mama
said he had a voice
for
the radio ministry. You got along
like
a house on fire. You know, he asked
one
evening, shimmying out of his jeans,
At
the start of the Civil War, a quarter
of
the state’s population were slaves?
You
had passed the afternoon together
in
courtly decadence, sitting out
under
the shade tree with a pile of books,
a
fresh pack of smokes and a bottle
you
passed back and forth with great
ceremony,
fancying yourselves misguided
followers
of Rousseau, costumed as savages,
playing
at pastoral on the south lawn.
Gradually
his eyes grew more wild
and
dark, so you retired early, whereupon
with
three quick taps on his breastbone,
he
pursued his thought, Maybe our deaths
are
herein enslaved, desiring to be set free.
Like
a raccoon trapped in the cellar
or
a wasp between panes. You couldn’t tell
if
it was a question or something he knew
for
a certainty. Upon his naked chest, you laid
both
palms flat. Congenital defect, you said,
then
pushed hard, so that he staggered
back
and sprawled, laughing, on the bed,
atop
your grandma’s quilt, which was,
as
it happened, just where you wanted him.
Steve McOrmond is a Canadian poet who has published three collections of poetry, most recently The Good News about Armageddon (Brick Books 2010), which was shortlisted for the 2011 ReLit Award. His second collection, Primer on the Hereafter (Wolsak and Wynn 2006), was awarded the Atlantic Poetry Prize. His debut collection, Lean Days (Wolsak and Wynn 2004), was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award, which recognizes the best first book of poetry published by a Canadian. His work has been anthologized in Breathing Fire 2: Canada’s New Poets and has appeared widely in literary journals and magazines including Bei Mei Feng (China), Humanist Perspectives, Jacket, Malahat Review and The National Post’s Afterword. He lives in Toronto. Visit www.stevemcormond.com or https://twitter.com/Steve_McOrmond.
the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan
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