National Poetry Month : John Barton,

 

A POET, UNPLUGGED

 

He sits cross-legged in Portland outside
Powell’s as tourists step around and past

The carrycase open at his feet, last
Scraps of change inside it fishing for eyes

In passing to bite, be hooked by the shine
Of what few ask him to write, hungry keys

His scrounged typewriter has baited itchy
To strike and, cast wide by his fingers, snag

What’s flitting through our glances, the lyric
Inked in chopstick-style, the words so surefire

They are fish flying, leaping, off the page
Carriage return advancing the quick

Study of his craft, the fishy desire
He retails, if not paid for, tossed away.

 

 

 

 

John Barton (john-barton.ca) is a poet, essayist, editor, and writing mentor. His books include We Are Not Avatars: Essays, Memoirs, Manifestos; Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay Male Poets; and The Essential Douglas LePan, which won a 2020 eLit Award in the United States. Lost Family, his twelfth book of poetry, was nominated for the 2021 Derek Walcott Prize. He lives in Victoria, where he was the city’s poet laureate from 2019 to 2022.