Jami Macarty | IS OCCURRING

Is Occurring

feet touching ground is occurring everywhere I walk

I kill something is occurring surrendering to melancholy

comes easily if not careful is occurring notwithstanding brutality

harmony is occurring formula to keep from

dying is occurring testing positive is occurring

lack of answers is occurring lack of questions is occurring complacency is occurring

coffee is occurring catastrophe is occurring

labour is occurring picking sour sweet red raspberries is occurring

pigeon is occurring crow is occurring goal or distance is occurring

goose is occurring checking the bottom of shoe is occurring

rosebud is occurring woman is occurring

one in six women is raped is tortured is occurring

knowing little and crying a lot is occurring crying a lot is occurring

water is occurring made with oil is occurring oil is killing us is occurring

manatee deaths up twenty percent is occurring

desecration is occurring desecration is recurring

spike in cases is occurring

promise is occurring deployment is occurring PTSD is occurring

eviction is occurring sleeping outside is occurring

going to work is occurring out of work is occurring is occurring is occurring

blur is occurring dropping to one knee is occurring

futurelessness is occurring the arctic is feverish is occurring

very hot wild fire between Hope and Merrit is occurring

hydrophobic crust on the soil increasing flood risk is occurring

helicopter is occurring gull is occurring

live Reggae music is occurring old song is occurring identification is occurring

a maple leaf born and falling from the maple tree is occurring

using and reusing needles on the street is occurring

eyes filled with the dead is occurring

old nose of dog is occurring the lawn is occurring a group photo is occurring

naming the baby is occurring summer without superheroes is occurring

illegal wildlife trade is occurring

toxic PFAS chemical use is occurring

commercial fishing is occurring eagle is occurring

what type of beetle is that occurring lagging behind is occurring

scrambling to catch up is occurring

urban sprawl is occurring the ferruginous pygmy owl’s loss of habit is occurring

building a wall is occurring liquor store is occurring

roadkill rates have gone down is occurring

a fly is occurring ice cream truck is occurring

sun is occurring sky is occurring

syntax is occurring this is occurring


Author’s Bio

Jami Macarty gratefully recognizes Native Nations of the West—especially the Coast Salish and O’odham—as the traditional and rightful owners of lands where she has the great privilege to live and work—as a teacher at Simon Fraser University and as a writer of essays, reviews, and poetry. She is the author of The Minuses (Center for Literary Publishing, 2020), winner of the 2020 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award – Poetry Arizona, and three chapbooks, including Mind of Spring (Vallum Chapbook Series, 2017), winner of the 2017 Vallum Chapbook Award. Her writing has been honoured by financial support from Arizona Commission on the Arts, British Columbia Arts Council, and by editors at literary magazines such as The Capilano Review, Interim, Tinfish, and Volt, where her work is forthcoming.

Photo credit: Vincent K. Wong