AL
NECROPSY OF AL
Sticky note on cover of Al Purdy’s: rooms for rent
in the outer planets 1962-1996 Note says: go see
Al Purdy’s statue Queen’s Park So here I sit at
stone Al’s feet Al Purdy Poet 1918-2000 carved
into concrete
Long bobbed hair all in black shirt sleeves rolled up
Cool deshabille Al gazes off into now ochre trees That’s
poets for you autoerotic pencil flailing in lonely parks +
freezing cafes
This poet sits on Al’s left knee gold Chanel shoes glinting
in November rays Al missed Justin’s swearing-in today by
15 yrs. Don’t know how impressed he’d be with the ceremony
There was Sophie G.T. clutching her heart blonde locks
flapping in the golden girl breeze
2 tiny throat singers all shock+awe as our Governor General broke
into loud gaffaws Al won the GG award twice in his lifetime Born in
Wooler Ontario died in Sidney B.C. Someone called his poetry: effortless
gratuitous magic Not a poet certainly Now I wipe word-sweat off of
stone Al’s brow if he could move he’d surely seduce me
Al thought love: a comic disease yet I kiss his cold cheek + squirm on
his knee Too late to resist becoming poet-cliché Sun now setting time
to climb off of statue When Al Purdy groans +hauls me back 2 french bullies
begin to howl as I succumb to advances of giant stone Al
__
she stands above him as a stone goddess weeping tears and honey
she is half his age and far older and how can a man tell his wife this?
(Married Man’s Song 1970 Al Purdy)
Fall 2015
