canadian ~ twenty-first century literature since 1999


Empty Now

by Melanie Cameron

Memory needs
XXyou or it
has nothing, is less

XXthan the black
XXbox of night, closed
XXindefinitely, less

XXXXXthan a never
XXXXX-stirred
XXXXXlake, no thing

XXXXXto press against

XXXXXXXXits cheek, less than rock
XXXXXXXXunturned, no one

XXXXXXXXto witness
XXXXXXXXits shadow beneath, or its pulse

XXXXXXXXwithin, absent or too
XXXXXXXXslow to be
XXXXXXXXtaken. And you
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXneed memory because you need
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXyourselves
XXXXXXXXto stay. That simple. You
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXdon't
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXwant
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXto be, can't

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXimagine being,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXalone
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXwith you.



Memory, a mirror, nothing

to draw in to
yourself, only a growing
circular

haze, steam, then

your warm

breath, evaporating,

from its cold, unyielding

face, you

leaning in, trying
to see who and what

you have been.



XYou leaning in, your surface, met

XXand stretched, across
XXthe skin
XXof a river. Drop

XXXXXa single wet
XXXXXstone through

XXXXXglass
XXXXXskin. Self

XXXXXXXXXXXsplinters,
XXXXXXXXXXXshatters. Selves

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXundu
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX-late memory’s

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXexpanding, receding,
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXcircular
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXwake. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXThe shadow

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXof willows dropping
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXtheir shoulders, giving

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXup, above.



Beneath shadows
of branches, bending, unable
to scratch, you

XXrelease
XXeach
XXself who stands

XXreflected
XXwith you now, in
XXthis moment, you

XXstray
XXfrom your
XX-selves, as Persephone

XXXXstrayed from the girls
XXXXwhose hands she held, XXXXXXXlet go, XXXXXXXamong

XXXXthe hands of trees.



Persephone, straying

from the girls in loose dresses in
the loosely dressed forest, its garments,

even in spring, fall
-ing around them, like memory

of sun, memory of
green, now

floating
down toward ground, now
trodden under
-foot.


Melanie Cameron’s first book, Holding the Dark (Muses’ Company, 1999), was shortlisted for the Eileen MacTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Writer. Her second book, wake, will be released by the Muses’ Company in Fall 2003. Melanie is the poetry co-editor of Prairie Fire magazine and is currently completing her third book-length manuscript. 

Read the TDR Interview with Melanie Cameron.

 

 

 

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TDR is produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

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ISSN 1494-6114. 

 

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