POETRY: PENN KEMP

TRASH TALK

​Litter begets
more litter-
ah, sure when
litter it.
I / it

lit
light
litter
along
the literal
littoral.

The ill litter it
refuse refuse
and garb age.

I utter a light
little iteration
against litter
alluding to
allusion, all
iteration and
​
assonance off
the road, on
the road and in
to ash, rash,
trash can.

​​Penn Kemp. Published online.

RIVER REVERY

Water abounds here, with this river

five times normal width for winter,
flooding roads and parks. The swell
carries whole trees along stampeding

currents. Yellow willows drop fifty-year
-old boughs in high winds. Standing
waves cover our usual walking path.

Climate change is certainly upon us,
from eleven below to eleven above in
hours, sinking back below freezing.

Green begins to bury the remnants
of flood, the wall of last fall’s leaves
packed level against the link fence.
​
Weird how all reverts, reverberates in
spring clarity as old detritus is dredged.

Penn Kemp has participated in Canadian cultural life for over 50 years, writing, editing, and publishing poetry and plays. She has published 30 books of poetry, prose and drama and 10 CDs of spoken word/Sound Opera. Penn is the League of Canadian Poets’ 40th Life Member and Spoken Word Artist (2015). Penn’s latest collection, A Near Memoir: new poems (Beliveau Books), launched on Earth Day. Her lively web presence includes Wordpress, Weebly, Facebook, and SoundCloud.