April is National Poetry Month

by Shirley Langer, Tofino

National Poetry Month was established in Canada in 1999 by the League of Canadian Poets. Every April, publishers, schools, booksellers, literary organizations, libraries and, of course, poets are brought together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in Canadian culture. The theme this year is Poetry Everywhere. Poetry is found in so many places beyond the printed page-- on bathroom walls, displayed on subway trains, recited from street pulpits and the stages of small cafes.

"Ink runs from the
corners of my mouth.
There is no happiness
like mine.
I have been eating poetry."

from "Eating Poetry" by
Mark Strand

The Clayoquot Writers Group has been getting together regularly since 1998 to support and encourage one another in our desire to create something good; to get better at putting one good word after another. We are writers of creative fiction, creative non-fiction, poets, scriptwriters, science for kids writers, journalists, novelists, playwrights. Some in the group have had works published during our time together. Some have works-in-progress. All are writing for the pure pleasure of the creative turn-on.
We are grateful to Tofino Time magazine for honouring National Poetry Month, and offering the poets of Clayoquot Writers Group the opportunity to share some of their work with the community.

---

Weather

If life is about change
rainforest bipeds are constantly being tested
for their adaptive qualities
relentlessly driven
by wind
battered
by slanting rain
pelted by sculpted hail
then teased
by spectacular visions of clarity
clouds parting
to permit seductive glimpses
of blue glass sky
then closed like curtains
drawn upon some final act
ruining our plans
mortgaging our hopes
leaving us to wonder
if we will ever again
stand
if only for a moment
In sun illuminated space
melting with gratitude
while keeping one eye
on the sky
meteorological manager
of our rainforest fate.

by Shirley Langer

---

cryptic road

crow
so obsidian
dips and sips
from the corner
of the cat's eye
no time to reflect
a second of contrast
black, orange
empty highway
stretching straight
the crow flies.

by Janis McDougall

---

I'd tear up the pavement with the force of Eros
except then I'd have nowhere smooth to ride my bike.
One has to make compromises.
Without Kate (she's my bike),
I'd wither into the dandelions.
Nothing against them.
I don't think about Boys when I'm Riding.
Don't want to remember my head being pushed
Down
having to warn him, "Ask Nicely."
(Remember, I have teeth.)
Eros Rides Kate and me,
speed, air, music
and the pavement rips up behind making a sound like flames.
Gravel flies up, fireworks.
After a good Ride, we feel like we did when our Girls
did the Vagina Monologues. Rippin.
Roarin. The Road is the orgasm (and it's a long one),
the sky the moan.

by Chris Lowther

---

fridge magnet poetry

wind still a languid knife
you with winter on top
a chill blue gown
its elaborate summer
shadowed bare and bloodless

do you recall
how we said
a rose for an egg
the crush of beauty
incubating an ugly goddess

music falling from rock
symphony of water
you sleep light
dream a rusted sun

her two feet bored
hair a lick of storm
and lazy!
but men over the sun moon
crazy like for chocolate diamonds summer peach

by Janice Lore

---

A Child's Spring

Frogs emerge, singing
From winter sleep

One voice croaks off-time
Louder, distinct

Crescent moon drifts - a
Silver eyelash

God's eyelash, says Kate,
Floating to earth

Stars sprinkle the sky
Twinkle, says Bex

God's dandruff?

by Rana Nelson

---

Out My Window

A spiral of seagulls
Glints white against smoky rainclouds
Crowns the floating mountain
Shining green above the inlet.

by Rana Nelson

---

Product Description

It is the most beautiful.
It is Beauty itself.
It is the most terrifying
and the most horrible.

This is Love.
This is Life.

by Jan Janzen

---

Lots of rain
this winter

Despair and euphoria
affect me the same:
I'm useless for work,
just wanna recline
and bask in the glow
of a blackening ember
or a sparkling fuse.

Teetering between them is sweet torture,
better or worse I can't say.
Screaming into a pillow felt good,

after I picked out a cat hair from my mouth.
I think I'll go for a walk.

by Jan Janzen

---

Moments

I took a moment from my day
to lock away my thoughts

never to be mailed to you
no more I can suffer from what we were

Selfish to hold on when you left me behind
I foolishly chased with words and tears -
how I was a coward over our destructive love

Our romance was painful even
at the beginning to say how we felt
then easy when it was ours
or should I say yours
I had no control of what happened -
only to be lost in the dust you created from running

The pain will be in a box
just as simple as one, two, three
I won't be there to open it if you need me
I locked it all away

by Marion Ann L. Berry