A series of my poems, “The Raspberry Dress,” has been published in the Fall 2007 issue of Legacy. The poems were inspired by a dress owned by Mrs. Richard Secord that was part of an exhibit at the Edmonton Art Gallery in 2003. My grandmother, Natalia, worked for the Secords after immigrating to Canada in the 1920s – which made the dress even more compelling to me. I’m thrilled that the staff at Legacy were able to track down the dress and include a photograph with my four poems.
rushing water pushes through the canyon
past cavities pounded out of rock
the breeze catches droplets from the froth
carries them up, waters moss & tenacious
trees clinging to the cliff
at the place just before the stream
plunges into this fierce display
a girl stands
on a wet rock
to get a better view
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It’s two o’clock: the woman gazes out
into the storm, wind driving the snow
into deep drifts along fences. You know,
he said that morning before going out
into the blizzard to check the cattle
huddled behind the wind-break he built three
summers ago, while she, sipping ice-tea,
sat under the maples, listening to the rattle
of the wind-chimes he had bought for
her last birthday, too large to move, the sun
too hot, just waiting, waiting for the day
her child would be born, and after that two more,
twins; You know, he said, reaching for the gun
to shoot the coyote, You’re beautiful today.
Published in diverge 2(Summer 1996): 70.
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her garden
an oasis
beans indifferent
to absent rains
grow
a jungle
peas reach
curling tendrils
from the top
of chicken wire
new potatoes
swell
beneath lush plants
the neighbour women
leave their lawn chairs
while she is in the house
stand
at the garden’s edge
marvel
my peas
says one
are only
this high
when she comes out
squares on a plate
she smiles
says
I’ve been watering
does not tell them
about the ten
thousand gallons
she and her husband
hauled from the river
flooded her garden with
a conspiracy
to see something
grow
Published in The Prairie Journal of Canadian Literature 41(2003-4): 10
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