rob mclennan (Canada): Two Poems

VICTOR COLEMAN'S “EULOGISTICS,” VARIATION TWO

he painted his birth; stills
record the ocean

as big as music

a fraught mom beside
the leaves; breathless,

siblings following the head
that cried

to the bank of no return

rejection is a slip
say no, no

measured six feet, denial
an aperture

redirected,
the variable foot

a lover
and a lover of lyric

brought blood to the tongue

painful and silent

MARK COCHRANE’S “DUMBHEAD,” VARIATION THREE


whatever badges of cowardice
behind her

the warmth of closing folds
; the peace that comes of entering

frost on the draftless chamber,
a tomb among foam

in wait, the way a newborn
carries myth

the sympathetic blood of watching

i am archivist, stuff for poems,
a birthmark of the moon

this beautiful woman

so delicious; went away,
went away

lifting in a type of trace
i cannot grieve

their little joke – secret symbols:
love, contentment, necessity

lying body of betrayal

limit to the world