Poem: Lachine Canal, Montreal

Lachine Canal, Montreal

To China through the northwest corridor,
through blasted passages, ice crusted tides,
xxxto reach the dragon guarded shore,
the argosy of afternoon light rides

and disappears. Upriver, the fur trade
boomed, and busted land agreements reached
xxxby bog trappers and royal maids
whose children pedal down in boats and, beached,

sleep singly or in twos. In my head, grass,
green toothpicks, pricks the back of my eyelids
xxxto picture this carnal bypass
aslant the clenched black rocks spitting rapids.

Bright Admiral, my expeditious force,
command this rented tandem kayak, share
xxxan hour of my eunuch course,
unscroll us through white arches of the air.

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