editing poetry on paper....
February 21, 2007
I’m working on the poetry manuscript for Goose Lane right now, not that there’s a promise to publish or anything. There’s only an invitation to look at the manuscript, which is a small victory in poetry-speak. I’ve been working on paper, which is not normally where I work with revising poetry. It’s been, and continues to be, an invigorating process. This morning, with one of Jay-from-Zennari’s brilliant Americanos, I looked at an old Saskatchewan poem, hesitated, and then clicked the pencil a couple times and started marking—tried to make it better. I hesitated because this poem has been around for a long time and something in me considers it finished. Perhaps poems are only abandoned. Here’s the result:
the aloneness of trees
Southern Saskatchewan, while returning from a funeral
is not as bleak as the journey toward
It’s still a dreary landscape, but the funeral is behind you now
There are few trees although several pine forests, you notice
grow magically in straight rows
evenly spaced attempts at blocking weather
clumps of scratchy trees are tucked around farm buildings
gray, willowy sticks for protection from dirt-stealing winds
Most amazing are the trees along the highway
from Moose Jaw to Swift Current
In this vastness the few trees stand alone,
singular erect icons, out of place in the surrounding flatness
Their loneliness strikes in the middle of you
To be so singular amidst this very much space
To be vertical in a Universe of horizons
You begin to worry about the aloneness of trees
Sorrow seeps into you as hold the highway
But winter is a time for harsh contrasts
Perhaps these trees are not so lonely
There are antelope, coyotes, deer, and in the spring,
gophers will stand at attention beside their holes
hawks and song birds will return from the south
As you stretch your vehicle across this blue-white flatness,
your heater blowing on high – competing with the CD player,
you find the beauty of this place, smile as you pass another tree
and realize, in every single tree, there is a nest.
I'm off to the CBC studios here in Edmonton to be a judge in the CBC Poetry Face-off EDMONTON!!! Three Raving Poets are in the competition, in which five poets are asked to write a poem to a theme (this year: "Made in Canada"). Mike Gravel, Kerry Mulholland, and Kathy Fisher are the Raving Poets in the event....Should be fun!
And tonight, the Raving Poets kick off a 15 week adventure in spoken-word with improvised music in an open-stage setting!!!! We launch into our seventh year with a bang!!!
Raving Poets: Rapture
Wednesdays at the Kasbar Lounge under Yianni’s Taverna
(10444 – Whyte Ave, Edmonton, AB)
February 21st through May 30th.
Sign-up at 7:30 p.m./show at 8 p.m.
2 Comments
1. Anita had this to say: Feb 21, 2007 ~ 10:52 ~ #
Oh, I like it so much!
I know that stretch of highway, and like it too :-)
2. Rosemary had this to say: Feb 22, 2007 ~ 13:48 ~ #
Beautiful piece!