Mark Farrell
Moosey Mike
it was only at Christmas that
(Hey kids, come — it’s Mike.)
we ever saw him:
half-hermit
in from the bush:
stiffly sitting there
— bare kitchen chair —
his big boots — and —
— grinning —
Didn’t speak.
Making the TV in the corner
(we so much wanted to get back to)
that much louder:
For my parents: illegal slabs of moose (my mother’s eyes, almost
sighing)
And for us: uninteresting: wooden toys (he’d of course crafted,
carved
himself)
Didn’t speak.
The television — yapping its New York/Toronto dreams —
bluish/green and glowing:
fl ickering,
now off/now on:
Moosey Mike’s bearded face, his grimy clothes
— spruce
gum and
kerosene (and torn) and soot and:
that
— grin —
(encompassing)
the surrounding woods,
the battering sea
(where if you had debris, you just threw it down a cliff)
(and something we didn’t want to understand)
Ol’ Mike out there
hewing life
out of the absurd:
the insane wilderness
Page(s) 34-35
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