Well, You’re Dead and I’m holding my own,taking on water, mainlyin my feet and ankles,filling up like a rain gaugeor the Edmund Fitzgerald.Time hangs burdens on us:weight, fatigue, regretthe most noticeable.They bind our hands andplant our feet to the soil,to a moment thatno longer existson this twisting Earth.A mediocre boxer,I keep moving, clockwise,around this ring,shoulders […]
And from there, the series of events became increasingly sketchy, the memories like a half-finished puzzle with remaining pieces that didn’t fit anywhere. The barmaid had arrived to take his order, then eyed us both with mistrust. I was already a potential problem, and now here was one of the community’s well-known criminals. To be […]
Coal to Burn the World I do not belong here. I, do not belong Belly down against flat earth I, Splinter like sheet glass beneath boots that crack my spine I. Do not belong. I, a feather bed to my own head My Own, very particular kind of madness Lying here, on the ground Life […]
Tucked into a bay on Lake of the Woods’ most northern tip, at the height of summer, Kenora had boasted a population of forty thousand, jumping to forty-five thousand on weekends. The marinas, cottages, and campgrounds around the lake had been packed, the colourful beaches all busy; even the shabbiest of motels flipped their cracked […]