high crime

Banff, Alberta

February greys down by six,
climbers comment on the longer light,
they forget the patient progress
over December and January,
two stolid minutes daily

clouds parade past chalets
in flagrant imitation
of the slippery slopes below,
clear case of copyright invasion

clouds horn in, persist
in their infringement
of the privacy of peaks,
attempt to move mountains,
delay the seeping light

Rundle next to Norquay
rub shoulders with
the down-darkening sky.
everyone plays at camouflage,
mountains claiming to be clouds,
clouds claiming to be mountains,
deceit on all three sides

~ Myrna Garanis

Myrna Garanis’s Edmonton front window looks out on lawns and magpies, not mountains; still, the Rockies tempt and torment. Myrna’s poems appear in recent issues of CV2 and Room of One’s Own. She is currently involved in Eyeing the Magpie, a performance/writing project in collaboration with four other poets.

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