Two poems that appear to be otherwise uncollected.
I absolutely love this one:
The Light of Jesus
brothers, he said,
I'm going to show
you something
you're not going
to
believe --
and he pulled this
thing
out.
it ruined my life.
sin after
sin. wrecked
homes. drinking,
carousing.
I was coming to a
no good
end. I was at the
mercy of the
devil.
then one morning
sick and
debauched
the Light of
Jesus, o yes! the
Light of Jesus
fell upon me and I
was
saved!
all right, said somebody in the
back, quit
bragging: put that thing
away.
we sang, then had beans and
crackers.
Next up: a poem that, curiously, might be about Al Purdy??? Given what he wrote in the Buk/Purdy Letters, I'm not sure (or is this another example of two sides to his writing??), so anyone else know?
A Northern Acquaintance
there is one writer --
among others --
I never cared much
for, but we wrote
letters a while.
he lived in Canada
and made his own
wine.
and was always
winning
Grants. also, his
wife worked.
there were always
photos of him
in an undershirt
pecking down
with big hands
at a delicate machine
down between
his knees.
and there was the
cigarette, of
course.
we are all literary
hustlers, I wrote
him.
I'm not sure he
understood.
I don't know
what has happened
to him
lately. sometimes the
Grants stop
and the wives
run
away.
I suppose he's still at it
though --
winning the Governor's Prize
and
writing about
eskimos and whales.
although the best thing
he ever did was
make his own
wine.
From Wormwood #43, 1971
I absolutely love this one:
The Light of Jesus
brothers, he said,
I'm going to show
you something
you're not going
to
believe --
and he pulled this
thing
out.
it ruined my life.
sin after
sin. wrecked
homes. drinking,
carousing.
I was coming to a
no good
end. I was at the
mercy of the
devil.
then one morning
sick and
debauched
the Light of
Jesus, o yes! the
Light of Jesus
fell upon me and I
was
saved!
all right, said somebody in the
back, quit
bragging: put that thing
away.
we sang, then had beans and
crackers.
Next up: a poem that, curiously, might be about Al Purdy??? Given what he wrote in the Buk/Purdy Letters, I'm not sure (or is this another example of two sides to his writing??), so anyone else know?
A Northern Acquaintance
there is one writer --
among others --
I never cared much
for, but we wrote
letters a while.
he lived in Canada
and made his own
wine.
and was always
winning
Grants. also, his
wife worked.
there were always
photos of him
in an undershirt
pecking down
with big hands
at a delicate machine
down between
his knees.
and there was the
cigarette, of
course.
we are all literary
hustlers, I wrote
him.
I'm not sure he
understood.
I don't know
what has happened
to him
lately. sometimes the
Grants stop
and the wives
run
away.
I suppose he's still at it
though --
winning the Governor's Prize
and
writing about
eskimos and whales.
although the best thing
he ever did was
make his own
wine.
From Wormwood #43, 1971