October dribs and drabs
Of all the pills dispensed
by pharmacist October,
beauty’s the most bittersweet.
For who can live on watered-down dribs
and drabs, on discoloured leaves
when we’re used to bouquets,
hunger for last-minute floral showings.
We hunch in sun-funnelled corners,
inhaling the vigour of each remaining bloom,
hues intensified by near-death experience.
We siphon ebbing light from two
struggling-to-stay-pink petunias
their comrades long since trampled
by rakes and crazed mowers.
We abandon them as we have been
abandoned; cruelly let down By fickleness,
by infidelity, and the ticking of a ruthless clock.
~ Myrna Garanis
Myrna Garanis is an Edmonton poet and essayist. She collaborated with four other Edmonton poets to produce Eyeing the Magpie from Five Magpie Press. The same group of collaborators will perform new work at Government House in Edmonton on september 30th at 3 p.m. during Alberta Culture Days.
Read more of Myrna Garanis’ poetry here.
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