The raincoat that she dons,
on sunny days, makes them laugh:
the girls in tube and halter tops,
the boys on black skateboards,
even grandmas walking dogs
She spends her spring
in stack 9B,
section E point six-four-three.
She's working on a thesis,
I've heard, from the driver
on my route.
How fossil fuels can be replaced
by solar panels, westward winds
"Louise" never smiles when
she boards the city bus,
her change dropped like anchors
from her hands
She gave her quarters
all to bullies, learned to study
without lunch. Even now,
she sits in corner cubicles,
eyes graffiti scrawled of her,
twelve years past,
has yet to scratch it out
or eat a sandwich,
soup, at noon
In this, your final visit,
we talk of "only friends"
and the other silly things
that make us look away,
from each other's eyes,
when neither you or I
would want it this way
And I change the subject
rather hastily, when you ask
am I still pretty?
Its catch twenty-two
stares me in the face
when I speak in lieu
of suitcase bombs
and bio wars that make
for front page fodder.
I don't want to die unloved
you say and I agree,
and a gas bar clerk
is shot five times
as if once
won't do the trick,
bread lines grow in Montreal
and the Budget calls for higher tax
that moms can never give
and Jihad's called again,
stocks are set to crash,
and I think you're just as pretty
as the day we danced to Liszt,
and I speak of strikes instead,
of whales harpooned
and seals still killed for fur,
of famines in Angola
and that nukes are everywhere,
and I'd like to kiss you now
but I'm too afraid to try
and land mines blow
six kids apart
and ain't it great
to be alive
You said his name was Maynard
and he squeegees for a dime.
Fine then.
I dig for better coinage,
much to my chagrin.
A toonie for the back
and leave the mirrors
filled with spots.
When you catch my face
from behind the car,
I'll have excuse
for imperfection.
or Why I Live With Cats
I fear for you and what's ahead:
Wars of race and hatred,
cities bombed and shelled,
skeletons of bone and stone
and fresh water dried to sand,
radiation in the land
and even if there's not,
if it doesn't come to pass,
how can I let you
out of doors
with the bad man there
and waiting?