Shuswap Sunflowers

September in the Shuswap: mountains 
layer smoky fall evenings with fairgrounds coffee 
rich in midnight blue mornings of Indian summer.


The lake’s marshland algae 
echoes moss-soft meadow green-up
while peat decomposes, drenching soil 
that feeds weed-choked railway sleepers.


Over the crest, to the foothills they stand out
stretching wings. August yellow sentries
guard the last dazzling rays, waiting 
for geese
                    to call
                                    to call.


See you again
when the Salmon River icemelt 
brings you back upcountry, to sun
feathers drooping just ever so slightly. 

They want to fly south, but can only press 
petals, resist white picket fenceposts. 
In drying they long for the faraway 
mountaintops
                      skyward 
                                    and skyward.

~ Maureen Egan

Maureen Egan is a BC based editor who has received invaluable writing instruction and encouragement from several of Canada’s great poets. As a result, many of her poems have been read (out loud!) at writers’ events around the province; still others have been published in both print and online literary periodicals.

Filed under: Maureen Egan by akublik Date 2 February, 2009

9 Responses to “Shuswap Sunflowers”

  1. K Firth on February 4th, 2009 at Said:

    Yee haw ! … one more for the Shuswap Seesaw ….
    brings back memories … thank you for that …

  2. mary duffy on February 4th, 2009 at Said:

    I’ve never been but now want to have the Salmon River icemelt take me “upcountry” !
    lovely!

  3. Kay McCracken on February 4th, 2009 at Said:

    Gorgeous poem, Maureen!

  4. Eileen Kernaghan on February 4th, 2009 at Said:

    What a lovely poem, Maureen! Brings back all kinds of memories of the Shuswap.

  5. jack mattes on February 6th, 2009 at Said:

    it doesn’t rhyme mo mo but your coming along

  6. penny k-kilthau on February 9th, 2009 at Said:

    hey m – what’s with the beautiful poem – i had to keep rereading the fourth stanza for the eerie melancholy it evokes – and ‘feathers drooping just ever so slightly’ – the imagery of fowl and fellow man – but i especially love your use of ‘and’ in the last line – it makes the poem soar…

  7. Franci Louann on February 10th, 2009 at Said:

    Lovley – I like your use of indentations, your shape, your language…

  8. Molly’s Bloom (in Fade) « qarrtsiluni on May 10th, 2010 at Said:

    […] region of the right side of her brain. Her poetry has been published in Other Voices, Black Box, Blue Skies Poetry, dandelion, The New Orphic Review, and Room, among others. She is continually inspired by the west […]

  9. Burnaby Writers' Society » More Members’ News on October 10th, 2011 at Said:

    […] Maureen Egan’s poem “Shuswap Sunflowers” can be perused on the Blue Skies Poetry website. […]

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