By Mike Heenan
Literary Editor
Here are a few from my Selected Poems: Urban Affairs & Country Matters, and a couple more just for fun.
The Village Idiot
“It takes a village …”
With robust babies
Burbling in The Bush;
The agony of adolescence
At Vimy Ridge;
Technicolour mid-aged
Horrors in Holland, Italy
And Dieppe.
Nobel Pearson matures
In New York, The Suez
And Korea.
Dancing through the sixties
Before
The Art of Dying in Afghanistan
Drains out our bloody
Bathwater
Once more.
______
Veterans’ Affairs
The wolf is at our Veterans’ door;
Been there so long you should get him a toe-tag.
Or, just take back the money now;
Hardly enough of them left to complain….
With Visas, MCs, Lies of Credit,
Widows, VCs, scars & bones,
Feds snap at their heels,
Provinces whine;
Cities haul their stuff away.
You loved them at Juno Beach, Ortona, and The Scheldt.
The North Atlantic was a damned close thing.
Not enough deductions from their ranks?
They fought eye-deep through Hell for you:
No fear left for your clawback paws;
No respect for your grasping maws,
Unknowing jaws uncaring, knawing.
I’ll never use what I put in the system 50 years,
I’m housed & paid for my civilian pain.
Generous to my Legion, cats & neighbours.
No debts, no bets;
Yet I’ll die cursing your cruelty to our Vets.
Despised, unnoticed, shall you pass;
You craven, grasping, bureaucratic ass.
______
Van Doo
Barred in Quyon, Arnprior, up The Valley,
The scruffy old drunk came to our cottage gate
And held a salute for five minutes
Before Capt. Joe came out in his shorts
Demanding, “Who the Hell are you?”
In French I’d never heard at Jeanne D’Arc
The man replied, “Capitan, j’suis Van Doo.”
They embraced like brothers
Retired to the Garden Chairs
Soon intense with rum & memories.
After dinner, Dad gave him a new shirt
And a good pair of walking boots.
He left next morning before sunrise,
His bed smart with military corners.
______
Nano-second
When I see you
Caught in a moment
Naked, unaware,
Guileless, abstracted
By a thought or deed
Unaccounted for,
I just love you clean,
Knowing
It’s my turn
Next.
______
Random Island Cougar Love
Oh, yer sudden fierce butterflies
Dance upon my own front rocks.
Yes, and yer nameless rough tongue
Quickly flickers on my cheek….
Sweating, rolling, stolen time
Canadian Shields us from the crime;
Passing Friday boaters, friends of mine,
Cheer us on and do not know
We’re total strangers.
And Oh, yer slick departure’s wake
Leaves me stunned on my own dock,
Awaiting wife & family & friends.
______
Mike Heenan BA, BJ, MA
Wordsmith~On~Call
1-613-230-4640
mikeheenan@rogers.com
www.oiw.ca