Lake Ontario, Cobourg,

 

by rob mclennan

 

 

 

 

1.

 

the boardwalk; brick, in fact,

no boards at all

 

         the late George & Annie Page

         convene cold stone;

 

         sketch, field’s withered canvas

 

a curiosity, a wash

 

green, blue, orange, red,

amid elections

 

         all is testimony; dark

         ; her gaze, daily

 

where burst to fill,

a toe-tag green

 

         yellow brick; goodbye, Oasis,

         this shifting fit of houses,

 

blue sky; where may appear

a drop of blood

 

 

 

 

2.

 

 

swollen beach-head;

aquamarine,

 

         containing multiples,

         from Christine’s fountain pen,

 

         every living thing,

 

their affection was so young

but slowly aged; matured,

 

in point of fact

 

a trembling, ghostly face,

 

         machines that maintain

         further machines,

 

         computer print-out heat-curled,

         chemistry, a distant

 

freight train; laced with coal,

 

you are at the end of this

, you can write this down

 

 

 

 

3.

 

 

if this was England,

their highway bread

 

& butter,

 

         a vapour trail; a wet flame pulse

         , concealed absorption

 

I’m sick of absolution,

brittle fog, a caustic breath,

 

we were always driving

driving somewhere,

 

where wind cuts through the skies,

to let her beauty rise,

 

         born & married, Ramsgate,

         landing Cobourg, 1907

 

         , a century’s breath,

 

the pleasures of the page,

 

 

 

 

4.

 

 

the book of Ontario silence, marked

by sweetness,

 

a century of tart,

 

         to resurrect aspiration, blue-toned,

         impulse could be landed,

 

         a heritage-harbour,

 

designed to rattle; gravestones

downhill mark

 

white columns, chapel

 

to exist, a granule

of crucial gray, wash out

 

or make anew,

 

         spring; out of this long, dark winter

 

         I step into her palm,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Born in Ottawa, Canada’s glorious capital city, rob mclennan currently lives in Ottawa.  The author of more than twenty trade books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction, his most recent titles are the poetry collections Songs for little sleep, (Obvious Epiphanies, 2012), grief notes: (BlazeVOX [books], 2012), A (short) history of l. (BuschekBooks, 2011), Glengarry (Talonbooks, 2011) and kate street (Moira, 2011), and a second novel, missing persons (2009).  An editor and publisher, he runs above/ground press, Chaudiere Books (with Jennifer Mulligan), The Garneau Review (ottawater.com/garneaureview), seventeen seconds: a journal of poetry and poetics (ottawater.com/seventeenseconds) and the Ottawa poetry pdf annual ottawater (ottawater.com).  He spent the 2007-8 academic year in Edmonton as writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta, and regularly posts reviews, essays, interviews and other notices at robmclennan.blogspot.com.