ThirstyThis is a poem about the city. About a man who has visions, hovering on the edge but hating it, restless and at war with the world but wanting the peace that passeth understanding. Everything he does is half-done, except his death. When he falls, his parched spirit crying "thirsty," his family falls apart. This is a poem about Toronto, the city that’s never happened before, about waiting for a bus, standing on a corner, watching a stranger: the bank to one corner, the driving school on another, the milk store and the church. This is also about the poet, her own restless sensibility woven in and out through moments of lyric beauty, dramatic power and storytelling grace. It is written in the margins, like a medieval manuscript with shades of light and darkness. |
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Alan fell AWARD FOR POETRY baby baby's breath beauty bicycle birds blue skirt body bolt Burnt Country child Chloe isn't waking Christie Pits church city block city's cloth coffee Corinthians corner crossroad dance darkness DIONNE BRAND door doorway dream dress drunk emptiness Epigrams everything face falling fingers fleeing floor flowers flutter forgive girl GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD hair hand happened heart hedge clippers hope insomniac Julia kiss Land to Light Language Is Neutral leafed tree Leleti leukemia live magnolia mauve meter morning mother mouth murmur newsprint panic passion petals rapture road scarlet bergamot sense sermons sewing machine started shoes siren skin sleep smog someone spilled stop street subway television Texan things thirsty threads throat Toronto traffic traffic light TRILLIUM AWARD unless you count vanish violet waiting walking wanted waves weeping winter woman world don't value Yonge and Bloor ཏི ཝཱ