Robert Hogg | DELIBERATIONS AT KITSILANO POINT

Deliberations at Kitsilano Point

I

Hands
on the iron rail
guarding
against the sea

the Saint Roche
dry-docked in cement
behind me

lights
along the Upper Levels moving
the other side
of English Bay

……….Build—
you did
force the access
a Bridge Force
of poems
over water
……….the word
across the inlet
spanned
for love

……….…………….the structure
…………….stands

The hands
hold

The lights
move

The air
does carry
the word

……only the bridge
……is now invisible

II

Had the word
held. . .

……….no
not even the mind
holds

……….……….here
……….……….Kitsilano Point

this stone oven
……….……….I called an altar

these iron chimneys
……….……….I called holy

that time
I thought the trees
rained. . .

and the clearing. . .
was it that dark
by the sea?

III

Kelp
heaped on the sand

where the sea
left it

where I
must leave it

……….Kelp
heaped on the sand


Author’s Bio

Robert Hogg is a retired English professor and organic farmer who now devotes his life to writing on his farm in Eastern Ontario, Canada. He has published five books of poetry and six chapbooks. His work has appeared in over 70 periodicals, most recently Pamenar Online, Empty Mirror, The Café Review, Dispatches, Arc, Some, BlazeVox Online Journal, The Typescript, Caesura, Ottawater 16, Sulfur Surrealist Jungle, Periodicities, among others. Recent chapbooks include: from LAMENTATIONS (above/ground), Ranch Days—for Ed Dorn (Battleaxe), Ranch Days—the McIntosh (Hawk/weed) A Quiet Affair – Vanc ’63 (Trainwreck), The Red Menace (Hogwallow) and Apothegms (Apt 9). Forthcoming book length titles include: Lamentations, The Cariboo Poems, Amber Alert, Not to Call it Chaos – The Vancouver Poems, Oh Yeah—More Poems. In progress are The Offending Temple, Furtherings, and Ill Parodies – O, a selection of satires. A new trade book, Postcards, from America, will be published with CHAX Press, Spring 2022.