blue skies poetry

His hands
hot pink rheumatoid balloons
float to carroty plastic containers:
1, 2, 3, 4 filled
with charcoal, chartreuse, cinnamon, chamomile
bubbles of hope.
Bloated fingers clumsily grip pill bottles,
dump a few globes onto the counter
and sweep the proper mound into a reddened palm,
slowly growing toward the mouth and
slipping down the throat slick
with spit and swallow.
Then lay on the couch and
sleep for months while dreaming
of days spent building houses and family.

~ Allan Boss

Allan Boss is Cultural and Historical Services Team Leader for the Town of Okotoks. There he programs, curates, and directs gallery and museum exhibits, while producing music and theatrical productions in the Rotary Performing Arts Centre.

Before Okotoks, he worked for CBC as Drama Producer. His successes included producing and hosting Alberta Anthology and editing two book anthologies. He also wrote/narrated a docudrama called updrafts, about recovering from a brain injury, for Ideas. After airing updrafts won nominations for top international prizes including the Peabody, New York Festivals, Gabriel, and Prix Italia awards. Other projects he produced and/or directed for the CBC include: Conversations with my Neighbor’s Pitbull, by Clem Martini; Andrew Allan’s Chair by Blake Brooker; and An Eye For An Eye by Ghost River Theatre. An Eye For An Eye represented CBC at the world festival of radiodrama, Worldplay 2007.

Boss has a B.F.A. in Writing from the University of Victoria, an M.F.A. in Film Production from the Mel Hoppenhein School of Cinema at Concordia University, and a Ph.D. in Drama from the University of Calgary.

Identifying Mavor Moore and Discovering Mavor Moore (Playwrights Canada Press), two new books by Allan Boss, hit store shelves in 2011.

Read more of Allan Boss’ poetry:
– Cutline: a slice of civilization through a forest; a ribbon pierced through timber.
– April showers bring May flowers
– This Town This Life

Filed under: Allan Boss by akublik Date 21 February, 2011