the wind

you know the wind
is mighty and awful

whistles about the buildings
there's nowhere the wind doesn't blow

so it does so for nothing
other than create

a curren............t
the wind

No blossoms

Spring is condescend


ing, an elaborate ruse,


since spring never sprung.

Decorates

Art decorates space.
Music decorates time.
Story decorates the mind.

Tight

Tonight I cut an apron in
half to make a belt

but then he said
about my waistline that

two cords wouldn't make it
to Dublin.

And I couldn't argue with that.
I couldn't argue with that.

Natch.

Is spring

They want to spring
they want to blossom
they want to burst.

Pregnant branches
the buds
the inevitability

and so spring

is.

language, delicate

Language feels so delicate sometimes
writing sentences is the worst thing you can do

so then you do it anyway just
a couple lines then you

realize it's not language, delicate,
it's you.

Missed St. Patrick's Day

There once was a fella from Toronto

Who wanted St. Paddy's Day pronto

But he himmed and he hawed

And eventually maud-

lin That poor auld fella from Toronto

Return

Crisp light. High Park sub

way station. Hawkish circles.

Cherry blossoms bloom.

MLK

you say the good defeated

is better than evil

triumphant

?

but then

who is left to

turn the hour glass

after notes from underground

great

you know
great

but all I've seen since the crash
is a redefinition of what it means to be

working class

Spring fever

I have an allegory

maybe to authority

it's not serious

just pollen in the air

The Fern Cat by Remedios Varo

Ascension

What if poetry was the first revolution
only to be checked by prose?

What if writing meant enslavement
the icon signified the state?

What if producing and consuming
words

for/against

In Labrador some say they're for Muskrat Falls
to mean they want to save a river.
In Newfoundland some say they're for Muskrat Falls
to mean they want to build a dam.

Is that just dissonance
or the cost of having to be for or against?

PA-NL.CA

Crow 2012

yesterday I was full of happiness and today I am rich in gold
yesterday I took a snip of wind and today I walk with broken wings

forgive me

it's the postmodern way

I do as they do
not as they say

what trickster said

all law springs from lawlessness
all order springs from discontent

it's a double hook
and there's a policeman in my head

paid from the rich man's pocket
to keep the poor man's politics

from spilling over the dam

practising anarchist

A

N

A

R

C

H

Y

it just takes practice

says i

a fella says to me he says

when you make statements
it's like you're tossing balls up in the air
hoping someone will catch one

yes i says says i
except it's more like throwing knives

After K. C.

in truth we said nothing
so in lies we said it all

what else are you going to tell people?
that utopianism is the belief

things can stay the same forever?
that lacking the will isn't the same

as needing a rationale?
that resistance in the meantime

is justified? no.
you tell them everything's fine

just keep shopping

Lock

ubiquitous
but unseen
unless you're kept in or out

so mundane it's something you can't pick

such a simple expression of how we live

metal
met...............alm
eta...................lme
tal.....................met
alm.....................eta
lme.....................tal
met....................alm
eta.....................lme
tal.....................met
castironcastironcastironcastironcastiron
castironcastironcastironcastironcastiron
castironcastironcastironcastironcastiron
castironcapinpintumblercastironcastiron
castironcastirontumblerpinpinoncastiron
castironcapinpintumblercastironcastiron
castironcapinpintumblercastironcastiron
castironcastirontumblerpinpinoncastiron
castironcastirontumblercastironcastiron
castironcastirontumblercastironcastiron
castironcastirontumblercastironcastiron

the things we keep
and the things we give
.
.
.

Forget

(triolet on the UN General Assembly 66th Session, September 23, 2011)

Not yet

Sunrise

Sunset

Not yet

Forget

The lies

Not yet

Sunrise



(theme of the 66th session: "The role of mediation in the settlement of disputes by peaceful means.")