the witness employs retrospect

by Shane Neilson

a rarefaction occurs when someone dies,
an unexpected change of direction,
unforeseen weather now inclement or
a sudden increase in pressure:


like chaotic plinking of piano keys,
congealed milk on the kitchen floor,
an autumnal chameleonlike colour change,
a latch falling secretly via cogs too small to fathom,
a piece fragmenting into pieces that
gut out the whole, piercing
skin and vessel and bone, strips of love and whatever else
escaping in that released air,


the imperceptible displacement,
the fractured wound,
a tiny place you look back at.

Shane Neilson is a Nova Scotian poet who has published recently in Queen's Quarterly, The Canadian Forum, and Pottersfield Portfolio. He hates school.

THIS WORK IS COPYRIGHT OF THE AUTHOR.

THE DANFORTH REVIEW IS EDITED BY MICHAEL BRYSON.