Fine Lines

These twenty poems first appeared in “Fine Lines,” a Haiku Canada Sheet published in February of 2019, except for “rattling seedpod,” which is previously unpublished, and the following three poems, which appeared earlier in Haiku Canada Review (10:1, February 2016) as individual poems: “let us go then,” “MRI,” and “garden party.” All poems appear here together in sequence as originally intended. All first written in December of 2015 except for “let us go then” in November of 2015 (which is the first poem that inspired this sequence), and “seeing the world,” written in January of 2019. Bonus points if you can identify the sources or allusions in each poem. You can also view or download the “Fine Lines” PDF on the Trifold Downloads page.

abandoned quarry—

let me count the ways

we argue

seeing the world

in a grain of sand

sea urchin

expired passport—

water, water,

everywhere

shall I compare thee

to a summer’s day?

street-corner florist

frog legs

on the menu . . .

but I have promises to keep

let us go then

you and I—

divorce pending

chimney fire—

I celebrate myself,

and sing myself

blood test—

o captain! my captain!

our fearful trip is done

whose woods these are

I think I know . . .

doves at dusk

election night miles to go before I sleep

MRI—

do not go gentle

into that good night

the best minds of my generation

destroyed by madness . . .

fresh tattoo

dopplering siren . . .

gather ye rosebuds

while ye may

garden party—

I wander lonely

as a cloud

much have I travelled

in the realms of gold—

fresh corn on the cob

she walks in beauty

like the night—

snow on the peaks

fresh calendar—

I will arise and go now

to Nunavut

mulberries—

drink to me only

with thine eyes

social injustice report—

had we but world enough

and time

rattling seedpod—

hail to thee

blithe spirit