A Whiter Shade of Pale
while eating spaghetti and meatballs
with Rita, in the Bossa Restaurant
in Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland,
talking about faculty politics
like a pile of tricks, I heard
A Whiter Shade of Pale
my life haunted by the tale
of a miller and a ghost conjured
in a dazed Procol Harum 60s anthem
I have heard countless times without ever
knowing how the lyrics defy interpretation
~ Carl Leggo
Carl Leggo is a poet and professor at the University of British Columbia. His books include: Growing Up Perpendicular on the Side of a Hill; View from My Mother’s House;Come-By-Chance; Lifewriting as Literary Metissage and an Ethos for Our Times (co-authored with Erika Hasebe-Ludt and Cynthia Chambers); Being with A/r/tography (co-edited with Stephanie Springgay, Rita L. Irwin, and Peter Gouzouasis); Creative Expression, Creative Education (co-edited with Robert Kelly); and Poetic Inquiry: Vibrant Voices in the Social Sciences (co-edited with Monica Prendergast and Pauline Sameshima).
Read more of Carl Leggo’s poetry:
– Mementos
– Mac’s Bookstore
– Jaywalking
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