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Tyee Books

Blockbuster Poem VI

This week, an opportunity to immerse yourself in language.

rob mclennan 3 Sep 2010TheTyee.ca

Born in Ottawa, Canada's glorious capital city, rob mclennan currently lives in Ottawa. The author of more than 20 trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, his most recent titles are the poetry collections Glengarry (2011), wild horses (2010) and kate street (2010) and a second novel, missing persons (2009). An editor and publisher, he runs above/ground press, Chaudiere Books (with Jennifer Mulligan), The Garneau Review, seventeen seconds: a journal of poetry and poetics and the Ottawa poetry .pdf annual ottawater. He spent the 2007-8 academic year in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta, and expects to spend much of the next year in Toronto. He regularly posts reviews, essays, interviews and other notices at robmclennan.blogspot.com.
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Lapping at one's feet. Photo courtesy of Barry Duncan from The Tyee Your BC photo pool.

a history of water

over centuries, what water implies,
taken straight from the source.

you are in town on a mission.
I am parting dark clouds with your hair.

in reading writing, a table of infinite size.
all words simultaneous.

you are in town on a mission.
I am barking out orders at chairs.

you are in town on a mission.
I am seeking the cold from my bones.

the river is bent at the waist.
it pinches, there, just at the grain.

you are in town on a mission.
I am the space between messages sent.

the newspaper rails inconsistencies.
not even the clothesline is clear.

you are in town on a mission.
I have lost path for the brush.

you are in town on a mission.
I am dreaming up rain to rid dust.

this is the soundtrack of a life,
made of the movement of water.

you are in town on a mission.
I am not so extended as overexposed.

you are in town on a mission.
I am absorbed in the perils of touch.
[Tyee]

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