General

POEM
I heard of a man
who says words so beautifully
that if he only speaks their name
women give themselves to him.

If I am dumb beside your body
while silence blossoms like tumours on our lips
it is because I hear a man climb stairs
and clear his throat outside our door.

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Unreal to real
to the back of
wrong from the start
unknow this depart
Vancouver twilight
trainwave train shadow
shunt clunk shadeland shadfly shamble-shanks
rubbishy gulch-track gleam to river sidle
warehouse after depot after shed after chute
after silo after crane after . . .
I, shade in this
train tag. SKLMSH!
I, grain hopper lumber rack
rumbling boxcar
imported Shakespeare.
KAROOOM!!! Gotcha Poet
point in a grid, bit in a byte
boo in a boonie.
Buy low. Sky blue. Who's it? Not you
lift the latch crosspatch
of Prufrock's Xanadu
Xanada Canadu.
Wheel your red barrow
in Blake's cathedral
bpNichol St. Rains St. Ruggles.
Bible omen
schoolery brewing
howitzer idiots
normal ruling.
Rockabye, lost tonight
rockabye, wheely
clackity skulls rattle our masks
when the train hops.