is a simple pleasure, 2 x 4 uprights
of old deck railing nailed
together for a compost box
using straightened nails. Each
board the same length, so
no sawing. Each dimension
the same but for the boards’ thicknesses
making two sides longer on the outside
two sides narrower within. The weasel
likes it. Moves in, maybe with young
sheltered under corn husks, garlic tops.
A great satisfaction is knowing Theresa (my
harvester) happy with it too. A greater is
that floor-less, it’s wide open earthwards.
Three books by John Pass have been finalists for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize (BC Book Award), and two for the Governor General’s Award in Poetry. He won a GG in 2006 and the Livesay Prize in 2012. His most recent books are This Was The River (Harbour Publishing, 2019) and Vetrna zvonkohra (Protimluv, 2020) a collection of his poems translated into Czech. His most recent appearance in Vallum was in The Chase 15:2.
