Tuesday poem #600 : Patrick Grace : Years of Bells

 

 

 

We were cold and breaking
every window of every boy who called
us every name, the snow eating

the sound as a tooth
enters a marshmallow.
After years of bells at the river

I wanted to be warm again—
not just me, everybody in the mall
dumping pennies over the glass edge

in line for a shot of hot maple syrup,
squinting at the neon signs,
the stairs unfolding and emerging

in squares of blue light,
anticipation thick in the gut.

 

 

 

 

Patrick Grace is an author and teacher from Vancouver, BC. His poems have been published widely in Canadian literary magazines, including Best Canadian Poetry, EVENT, The Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, and Prairie Fire. He is the author of two chapbooks: a blurred wind swirls back for you (Turret House Press, 2023), and Dastardly (Anstruther Press, 2021). His debut poetry collection, Deviant (University of Alberta Press, 2024), explores intimacy and fear within gay relationships. He moonlights as the managing editor of Plenitude Magazine. Follow him @thepoetpatrick.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan