Long Distance by Marie-Andree Auclair
Leave a commentSeptember 22, 2015 by northerncardinalreview
I hate loons and their steam whistle lament
that echoes off the mountains,
their sudden dives through water tunnels.
I fear they will not return.
A train wails at the sky
rushes along rails of desire and memory
steel wheels stumbling on links
in a restless beat, a roaring disquiet.
The loons emerge elsewhere
after a gap longer than my breath.
Friday, you step off the train, I catch my breath.
Lakeside weekend, we slow our speed, interlock relays
and signals, adjust hinges warped by distance,
until Monday pulls the pin, dispatches us to opposite tracks.
—
Marie-Andree Auclair’s poems have appeared in In/Words Magazine, Steel Chisel and Bywords. In December 2013, In/Words Magazine and Press released her chapbook Contrails. Arc Poetry Magazine shortlisted one of her poems for Poem of the Year 2014. The Canadian Authors Association, Niagara Branch included one of her poems in their poetry anthology The Saving Bannister in October 2014. She lives in Ottawa and is working on a poetry collection.
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