Joanne Arnott : Three quotes and a love poem

 

 

John Barlow 

The wise cannot impose wisdom on the world. At best, they can importune.
5 October 2024

 

John Barlow

Think it through by writing about it.
27 September 2024

 

John Barlow

A complex version of peace,
doves, sparrows, starling,
sharing a tree
19 September 2024

 

 

the strangest thing about his death
is not having his commentary
to bring us all inside the experience

heart or head or dream quake
nuance of the unfolding and everything
it reminded him of

john barlow’s riffs came early, circa 1980
the day i came home from abortion
he found me on my porch

i discovered beyond poetry
his empathy
something relaxed in me

ten years and thousands of miles later
he approached me in a bookstore
tilting reality

another decade or so and he found me again
by carefully reading a chain of protest letters
is this you?

if i had to summarize his role in my life
in a simple phrase, it must be
bringing me out of isolation

john barlow vanquished
my isolation
repeatedly

 

 

 

Joanne Arnott: Writer, editor, arts activist, originally from Manitoba, at home on the west coast. Six poetry books and four chapbooks, as author, among other titles, including pandemic friendship (above/ground press). I met John Barlow at U of Windsor around 1980, we formed part of The Ugly House writers. Years later I was drawn into Barlow’s online groups, riverspine, whalesnail, introducing me to many poets and many forms of poetic play. He has remained an integral element of life, a loved one.

Photo of the Ugly House Poets: John Liddle, Joanne Arnott, Lorenzo Buj + John Barlow

 

Joanne Arnott : Three poems

 

 

 

Bird of Wisdom

arising through bark
of tree slipping free

sweeping through corridors
tidy impositions best intentions

the world your egg
your nest the world

  

 

Sky in a Dream

sleepbound human glimpsing
clear blue sky

spirit rising from bed to travel
through the immensity

glimpsing vast geographies
in small things

  

 

for Saeed in Rasht City

pandemic surrounds our cherry blossom sunlight   
deaths and illnesses birdsong starlight                     
ever-changing rules and hope and moonlight            

inclusive of all forms of government                        
embracing all cultures and possible race of human 
being— virus connects us 

you write to me of heartbreak and ICU                  
i worry for your well-being across the miles                        
with Kermani, gathering dust                                   

 

 

 

 

 

Joanne Arnott is a writer, editor, arts activist, originally from Manitoba, at home on the west coast.

She received the Gerald Lampert Award (LCP 1992) and the Vancouver Mayor’s Art Award for Literary Arts (2017). She has published six poetry books, a collection of short nonfiction and a children’s illustrated. Recent publications include her third poetry chapbook, Pensive & beyond (Nomados Press 2019) and the co-edited volume, Honouring the Strength of Indian Women: Plays, Stories and Poetry by Vera Manuel (U of Manitoba Press 2019). A new chapbook, pandemic friendship, is forthcoming from above/ground press.

Joanne is Poetry Mentor for The Writers Studio, Simon Fraser University, and Poetry Editor for EVENT Magazine. She is currently a Shadbolt Fellow (2021-22) at SFU. She is one of the co-founding members of the Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast.

Joanne is mother to six young people, all born at home with the benign support of husbands and midwives.