"poem" broadside #312 / Queen’s University writer-in-residence (2012) poem-pick # 1: "Night" by Sadiqa de Meijer

Not dark. That makes it June,
or close. The curtain’s a screen
for foliage. Downstairs,
their walks, blind signatures.
Floating in abridged beds, 
sheets brittle and imbued
with backyard trees.
Even bicycles release
a sound in passing, tremulous
as insects. Awake, because
of the light. Loose thoughts
ascend to the white
ceiling: fantastic
Mr Fox’s plan, trick
knots, the voltage
in a friend’s stray touch,
visions of scoring from midfield.
Each night a penciled
tracing paper, overlaid to make
one form, almost opaque.
Words below, but aimless.
I forgot to memorize their faces.
Gods of fuselage and baggage trucks.
No, gods of clocks.

Night
by Sadiqa de Meijer
above/ground press broadside #312
& Queen’s University writer-in-residence (2012) poem-pick # 1
(curated by Phil Hall)

Sadiqa de Meijer’s poetry has appeared in a number of journals, as well as in the Best Canadian Poetry in English series and in the anthology Villanelles. Her poem “Great Aunt Unmarried” won the 2012 CBC Poetry Prize.