storefront poetry: 1
on the edge of the rabbit
hole on grande prairie main
street wagon trail a special agent
of the regular canadian manual poets
writes types on his typer while
the drive-bys and the pied-footed
walk and sometimes look in at
a stranger observing the latest new
to him parking metred road fribble
en route to wherever they’re bound
atv and gas cans on a big truck
crew trucks with drive-thru coffees
and surprises for locals of however
long they’ve been in this place
more than books and music—new
used recycled attributed alleged
the dogs image wellers graving
yellow fire hydrant bait for
unsuspecting dogs and dog walkers
in a town growing wheels in webs
out out out across the landscape
but this is not a painting bucolic
nostalgic for the farmstead smithy
collected and catalogued years ago
by the glenbow for the remember when
of decades not centuries or millennia
~ Joe Blades
Joe Blades is a writer–artist living in Fredericton. On the editorial board of revue ellipse mag, he is Vice President–Membership Chair of the League of Canadian Poets, producer–host of the Ashes, Paper & Beans community radio program, and founding publisher of 25-year-old Broken Jaw Press. The author of five published poetry books, including River Suite and from the book that doesn’t close, he has several books in the works, including Casemate Poems (Collected). Two of his books were also translated and published in Serbian editions in 2005.
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