Poetry Magazine
Fowl
The girl from Scarborough liked being slapped
Down the hall from where her mother slept.
A big, hard-working hand, anybody’s
To come medicinally down, antibody
To the slow infection of her Western face
(what sucked the most was that it wasn’t fast).
Some birds don’t migrate. Above, two lonely fowl
Scream across the sky their only vowel.
This river I step in is not the river
I stand in. We’ll drive to Leslieville, wherever,
Park in the Guildwood GO lot and get stoned.
Who’s there? Nay, answer me. Stand
And unfold yourself. Her heart begins to pound.
No geese go winging to the rooky pond
No goslings disappear their small and speckled.
If we endure this, it will make us special.
NOTES: Read the Q&A with Michael Lista about this poem
Source: Poetry (December 2012).
Biography
Michael Lista is the author of Bloom (House of Anansi Press, 2010). He is poetry editor of the Walrus and poetry columnist for the National Post. He lives in Toronto.
Poems by Michael Lista
Poem Categorization
SUBJECT Living, Life Choices, Social Commentaries, Cities & Urban Life
Poetic Terms Couplet, Rhymed Stanza
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