THE SIX HOURS IT TAKES TO GET ANYWHERE
are never divided by anything else,
so relax for a moment and settle
into this one formative fact.
Think about the weeding in the
garden you promised you would do,
the summer someone you love dies,
how to watch a documentary and
not talk about it later.
Now, put those thoughts aside. Recall
the first time you picked saskatoons off the
bush in your backyard.
You crushed them between two flat stones,
waited overnight for it to dry into a paste.
What did you compare that sensation to and why?
I ask these questions because I miss how we walked
through alleys together, that one time we stopped
to rest on a grassy spot near the power lines.
It was a hot day, but we didn’t mind. We
listened to the humming overhead until it all made sense.
Author’s Bio
Stuart Ian McKay is a Calgary poet. His poetry chapbook, even the idea of maya is maya, has recently been published by Frog Hollow Press (Victoria, BC). Stuart serves on the poetry editorial collective of filling Station.