See you January 5, 2009 with fresh entries! Happy Holidays!

(Entry originally published April 24th, 2008)

LeVack Block, Anansi Poetry Bash

Caucasian male, 50s, with curly dark hair, wearing dark dress jacket and shirt. Family and students gather close to the stage, whooping when he takes the mic.

The Sentinel, A.F. Moritz (House of Anansi Press)

From “You That I Loved”

You that I loved all my life long,
you are not the one.
You that I followed, my line or path or way,
that I followed singing, and you
earth and air of the world the way went through,
and you who stood around it so it could be
the way, you forests and cities,
you deer and opossums struck by the lonely hunter
and left decaying, you paralyzed obese ones
who sat on a falling porch in a deep green holler
and observed me, your bald dog barking,
as I stumbled past in a hurry along my line,
you are not the one…

Her head rolls into his shoulder nightly. Their hands meet at their waists, their legs entwined. In sleep they align, their bodies folding into one another, a reduction of the best they have to offer.

Bloor and Spadina

Caucasian male, early 20s, wearing black jacket, blue jeans, and black leather boots.

Jailbreaks: 99 Canadian Sonnets, Zachariah Wells (ed.) (Biblioasis)

Page 95:

“Young Girls” by Raymond Souster

They lie awake at night, unable to sleep,
then walk the streets, kindled by strange desires;
they steal lightning glances at us, unable to keep
control upon those subterranean fires.
We whistle after them, then laugh, for they
stiffen, not knowing what to do or say.

His classes end early on Thursdays. He hits the LCBO on the way home and drinks until the bottle’s empty. Dinner is twice-toasted hash browns, pulled from the freezer and dusted for crystals. He stares at the parquet flooring, traces back to the point where the lines stopped meeting up, and nods. The television is too loud but he’s forgotten how to look for the remote. He knows he can’t call the girl. He’d like to take it back, all the same.

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Other Cl/utter

More Readers Reading while I take a wee vacation. Seen Reading resumes next week!

Want to be featured reading? Email me at julie [at] seenreading [dot] com

More Readers Reading while I take a wee vacation. Seen Reading resumes next week!

Want to be featured reading? Email me at julie [at] seenreading [dot] com

Read Katherine Parrish at Agora Review.