Connect the Dots
the sky is so big in this place
it can fill the space between father and son
the land is a firmament under it
highways in straight lines
connect dots
stars on the landscape
we come from a place
where the lines on the land are not straight
where the map doesn’t always tell us
how to get there and the sky is much smaller
where there are too many things for it to run into
the edge of the ocean forests of black spruce
places where it and the road twisting
simply disappear from view
here we are stars within stars
it would be so easy for us to let that old space
that twists and turns across our landscapes
fill black as asphalt
instead we use the sky and straight lines
to keep from getting lost
~ Bob Stallworthy
Bob Stallworthy has 2 self-published chapbooks and 3 full-length books of poetry published by a recognized publisher. The most recent book of poetry, Optics, Frontenac House 2004, was short-listed for the 2004 W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize. In Silhouette: Profiles of Alberta Writers, a non-fiction e-book hosted on the Frontenac House website was launched in 2007. He is a Lifetime member of the Writers Guild of Alberta, a full member of the League of Canadian Poets and a member of the Young Alberta Book Society. His next manuscript is titled Too Small for My Skin.
Leave a Reply