folio : Forty-five Ottawa poets
it
doesn't advance.
it's
already there, waiting for you.
greet
it affably. it is armed.
do
not argue. find a bolthole.
don't
look for doors or windows.
it's
a million miles thick.
don't
try to burrow.
don't
fumble for lightswitches.
nothing
grows here.
it's
too heavy to lift.
it's
where all the loose ends are.
it's
worth money.
don't
you give me that look, now.
i
know that look.
it
sees nothing.
it
sees everything and nods.
John Baglow: I have previously published three books of poetry—Emergency Measures (Sono Nis Press, 1976), Journey Under Glass (Penumbra Press, 2004), and Murmuration: Marianne’s Book (McGill-Queen’s, 2023)—and one book of literary criticism, Hugh MacDiarmid: The Poetry of Self (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1987). My poems have appeared in a number of magazines, including Malahat Review, Wascana Review, Windsor Review, Capilano Review, The Literary Review of Canada, Antigonish Review, Canadian Literature, Dalhousie Review, Queen's Quarterly, Prism, The Café Review, and Eastern Structures.
I am a former union executive officer (PSAC), and presently write and live in Ottawa.
