Saturday, October 6, 2012

Get the poet upstairs by George Bowering


Get the Poet Upstairs


Get the poet upstairs however you can,
push on the seat of his pants if necessary,
         peel his fingers away from his pen,
then frisk him for other writing utensils,
         check out his shoes and his coat
         lapel,
tell him it’s time to take a rest, five
         poems a day about every stray cat
and lame dog are too many for any poet
         or reader,
advise him to close both his eyes, say omm
         and then omm, until the whole universe
         drops by,
ask him to get into his striped jammies, no slippers,
         lie down and remember yesterday’s poem
         about the bum on Yonge Street,
then let it go, familiar face in a comfy world, to
         walk into the library, let it go to
         find its friends between the covers
         of the university anthology.


                  Translation of “Get the Poem Outdoors” by Raymond Souster





George Bowering is a serious older poet who also writes fiction,
even history and memoirs. His latest book is Pinboy (Cormorant), a novel in the form of a memoir or the other way round. His next book of poetry will be Teeth (Mansfield) in 2013.

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