Poem of the Month
His barely recognizable corpse

By Fernand Ouellette

Published on April 7, 2014

His barely recognizable corpse
had gone through
the passage rites
of propriety,
the grandiloquence
of motionlessness.
But this was not
the void,
though his face
had shut itself
behind a membrane
of foreignness.
Each one
in his solitude
expressed himself,
surveying him relentlessly.
What a strange planet
he had become!
We could not withstand
the fascination.
The main thing was to stand still,
faithful to his silence.
Total absence
was close by. 

(The poetry collection Hours was translated by Antonio d’Alfonso)

More Poetry

a love-hate song to a hometown

In Fredericton, we climbed buildings we ate Chinese in the valleys of elementary school roofs, me spitting out the oil

Familiar Hours

Its steady hands reckoning our course around the face of time make me uneasily aware of my mortality and yours. From vague gazes and half-finished sentences the humming of our travel clock coaxes us to parables, morals, cautionary tales.

Ward Calls

First, post-diagnosis apology.
Next, a trained volunteer’s called in
to make the lonely wait less so.
Then, the oncologist comes armed
with a social worker, to talk it out, softly.