Wednesday, August 22, 2012

pigeon chickadee the horse, by Joe Blades


how can i, this table too small,
weights tied around my ankles
as if i’m a carrier of messages
or too fast to run, eyes hooded
to prevent natural hunt

how can i spread my pigeon wings
horse statue already in today’s night
darkness of time atop warring
and meet one fish on a different river
far upstream when your eyes alight
on a chickadee in your freezer
victim of one of your windows

how can i be on your inside
not splat and frozen for future
study and rendering on paper
please pick up your pencil
to draw— this isn’t the time
to kick ball and run
field until elimination
—there’s other ways to live
and i might show you one

may i? i know that after dead
chickadee you might want me
to stand just so for you to hold
pose you want as long as you need
i feel the seasons moon
but they don’t weight on me
as on so many others my age

i wake with predawn crows
don’t sing for iron bells
don’t run with herd

we talked one laughing night
imagine us beyond horse
beyond middle east
beyond celts homeland
our art and poetry there too
below sea level with russian vodka
in glasses of european muslims
oilfield below caspian sea
and us at a café on shore


Joe Blades lives in Fredericton, NB. He is an artist–writer, educator, producer–host of the 17-year-old Ashes,Paper & Beans community radio program at CHSR 97.9 FM, a Master of Education candidate at the University of New Brunswick, a member of the editorial boards of revue ellipse mag and ATKA: A Journal of Canadian Studies (Romania), founding publisher of Broken Jaw Press, a Past President of the League of Canadian Poets, editor of ten collections, and the author of seven poetry books, including Prison Songs and Storefront Poetry (Ekstasis Editions, 2010) and Casemate Poems (Collected) (Chaudiere Books, 2011). His newest book, Iz knjige koja se ne zatvara (2012), translated by Tatjana Bijelić, is co-published by Broken Jaw Press and Art Print in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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