by bill bissett

n th goldn lite ths morning

                     how it remindid me uv our time
                          on erth   didint it yu
                              n did i evr tell yu
                    abt th time i was walking
                 with that prson along th skraggelee
              see shell cliff edg see shore n th waves
                  thundring n roaring in sumtimes seem
                      ing 2 deliberatelee hit th ground rocks
                              all th frantik wet in th air n th waves
                      hugelee rising n falling n drenchd in
                          nostalgia   we wer down from th
                               cliff soaking wet almost warm
                              in th erlee fall rain getting cut on
                                  th rocks a bit we came upon
                                     a see cave n went in
                                        2 what seemd like a sereez uv

                      rooms th first room we wer in was long n less
                    wide walls mauv emerald smooth n shinee
                       n giving off a soothing lite n th sound
                     from th c oftn piersing as if 2 say wake n yet we
                    wer sew sleepee in th large emerald room with silvr
                        taybuls n yet we wantid 2 moov on n we did ahh i
                        remembr th rubee room we next came in2 n ther
                          wer holographik images uv all our frends we
                            had recentlee left on erth n a plate uv sliced fruits
                           n vegetabuls layd out 4 us n goblets uv inlayd
                          sapphires sew manee colors n bords wer layd out
                         4 us as well 4 us 2 draw on n air came thru th ceiling
                        sew noislesslee n we bgan drawing as we cud smell
                           fresh cooking from anothr farthr away room n i dont
                          yet remembr what happend aftr that   did i evr tell
                               yu that part ium not sure i think we definitlee
                              continued on

by Nelson Ball

Asparagus

I eat asparagus, I like
especially that it makes my pee

smell like stale cigarette butts
0in an unemptied ashtray.

I do not smoke, I stopped
more than ten years ago.

*

Canada Day Outreach

I don’t like the bang–bang fireworks
I hear throughout the evening.

It’s an insensitive activity, given
the havoc originating south of here

inflicted on humanity worldwide
by Americans with guns.

*

High School —1960

Doug was a whiz in math.
He tried to teach me but

I couldn’t grasp abstraction.
His next passion was setting

fire to his farts with
a cigarette lighter. The farts

of which he produced many, burned blue.
His top priority was to have sex with his girlfriend:
He described in minute detail
how he partially succeeded.

Finally he liked playing baseball.
Doug found employment compiling actuarial tables.

*

In The Wind

     to our nieces and nephews, especially the
     ash scatterers, Trisha and Dave Little

You dispersed Barbara’s ashes
on the west garden
of the Art Gallery of Ontario;

near the ferry terminal
at Toronto’s Harbourfront;

in Trisha’s rock garden
at her home in Saskatoon;

on Barbara’s name carved
in the boardwalk, worn thin by tourists’ feet
along the Kincardine lakefront;

and when the wind blows
Barbara is in the wind.

*

Pets

Snails
were Patricia Highsmith’s choice

hundreds
she fed them lettuce

carried
a head of lettuce
and snails
in her large purse.

Mine
are crickets

inside
my head, tinnitus —

I don’t
feed them.

by Cameron Anstee

Lecture on Nothing

windows sweat;

I can hear the birds

not on our feeder

*

Little Song

each way, slowly; slowly, each way

*

Stet

let

it

be

*

Agreement

Found

words

imparting the singular

include the plural

and vice versa