new from above/ground press: Town in a long day of leaving by Marcus McCann

Town in a long day of leaving

by Marcus McCann

$3

Originally published by on the event of the author’s relocation to Toronto from Ottawa by The Onion Union, November 2009; republished in Ottawa by above/ground press in an edition of 200 copies, March 2010; a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy (2010 subscriptions still available); to order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, $2) c/o rob mclennan, 858 Somerset Street West, main floor, Ottawa ON K1R 6R7, or check out rob_mclennan@hotmail.com

Point system

We are all the same is the moral of the story.

All men are the same is the moral of the story,

but it is not good news. Strangers should never

be encouraged is the moral of the story. Lose

and forfeit your job is the moral of the story.

Come off hard is the moral of the story.

The wolf lives and probably will get you

is the moral of the story. Resistance

is justified is the moral of the story.

Your “but Google is the moral of the story”

is the complete opposite of the truth. Think

before you act is the moral of the story. The last

line of the play is, “The moral of the story isn’t

get along; it’s get to know your neighbor.”

Marcus McCann lived in Ottawa for eight years. Evidence: he published poems in Ottawa-based journals including Bywords, Yawp, the Ottawa Arts Review, The Moose & Pussy, Peter F Yacht Club and Ottawater; performed at the city’s reading series, including the Dusty Owl, Tree, Factory and the Ottawa International Writers Festival; worked with Ottawa’s Chaudiere Books to put out his first trade collection, Soft Where; won the John Newlove Award; hosted CKCU’s Literary Landscapes; organized the Transgress Festival and the Naughty Thoughts Book Club; won the University of Ottawa’s 48 hour novella writing contest; worked with local writing group Ampers&; sold work at the Ottawa Small Press Book Fair; and shopped at Ottawa’s independent bookstores, including After Stonewall, Collected Works, Mother Tongue, Nicholas Hoare and Venus Envy.