By Sean Howard
i. the conquest of the river plate
pampas, horses
ford the stream… (
waves making the land
fall.) silence: conduct-
ing the dead. night
& day; silver &
gold
ii. gandhi and king
sleep: ‘hate in their
eyes.’ (white god, black
maria.) hindu or muslim? the
rain’s temples… trampled; bat-
on rouge. shared feast;
eyes on the hori-
zon
iii. can prisons work?
inner cities. (on res.; in-
dian territory.) poem: white-
wash. ‘in the end, your own
cell.’ violence: keeping the
inside out. forest–
throw away the
key
iv. the human species
science; pry
mates. (King Con-
quest.) graduation; ‘apelike
beings.’ full circle: tidepool,
man reflecting… genes
slowly making
love?
Sean Howard is the author of Local Calls (Cape Breton University Press, 2009) and Incitements (Gaspereau Press, 2011). His poetry has been widely published in Canada, the US, UK and elsewhere, and anthologized in The Best Canadian Poetry in English (Tightrope Books, 2011 & 2014).
