CONYER CLAYTON: WE SHED OUR SKIN LIKE DYNAMITE
 |
| Conyer Clayton photo by Grant Savage |
Conyer Clayton writes: This is
one of my favourite poems to read aloud in my entire book, and I was looking
forward to sharing it orally with folks during readings. I encourage you to
read it out loud. I feel that is where it shines the most.
This
poem is a reflection on the thinness of the line between worlds, the ways we
attempt to thicken that veil, dissolve it, reach through, and retreat.
I had
several readings cancelled, including Versefest on March 26th, two Guernica
launches in Toronto and Ottawa, and likely more to be cancelled this summer. My
Ottawa launch with Riverbed Reading Series has moved to Zoom, on May 20th.
Check out their website, riverbedreads.ca for details on how to register!
The
Screen Comes Off Easily
You
text me to say
you
crawled out the window
to the
balcony
of your
hotel room
on the
26th floor,
the
wind around the sides
of
buildings tearing
your
hair out, tearing you off
like
the beetle you released
to
starlight and concrete.
How
efficiently we grieve
depends
not on the body itself,
the
colour coding,
the
spice drawers.
Put it
back
where
you found it.
Put it
back quickly
before
I notice the gap,
the
continuing nights spent alone,
the
ones I asked for,
the
steps heavy and shuffling regardless.
*
She
left the long list of her leaving out plain:
her body
cigarette burned
blanket
long list
groups of letters
tattered sweaters
turquoise nightgown
moles sun-spotted (palm backs and
cheeks)
The
tapestry behind her weighted down with
the
smallest flower repeated,
the
smallest flower, small and blooming widely.
*
We sit with our food
groups grouped
in thick bricks of colour
on our plates.
No need
to supplement this existence
with the slow release
of how much we know
once our toes are off the edge.
How little we know.
And the lightness with which
you come back inside.
Conyer
Clayton is an Ottawa-based writer, musician and gymnastics coach. She
has 6 chapbooks, 2 albums, and won The Capilano Review's 2019 Robin
Blaser Poetry Prize. Her debut full-length collection is We Shed Our Skin Like Dynamite (2020,Guernica Editions). Stay updated on her endeavours at
conyerclayton.com.