Contributors:

John Barger, John Creary, Robert Currie, Susie DeCoste, Tyler Enfield, Karen Enns, Gabe Forman, Rosemary Griebel, Adrienne Gruber, Katia Grubisic, Elisabeth Harvor, Louisa Howerow, Fran Kimmel, Lynne Kutsukake, Zoe Landale, Marilyn Gear Pilling, Julie Roorda, Mari-Lou Rowley, Maureen Scott Harris, Sheila Stewart, Priscila Uppal, Danielle Walker, Sheryda Warrener.

Excerpt:

Gabe Foreman
The Ornery

O to be expert in birds! No so-called pro
who levels top-notch black binoculars
to call a handful of seagulls kestrels;
no lugubrious boob in rubber boots
who dubs a moss-topped fencepost an owl-nest
before scrambling for his van in the rain—
splashing through a swamp on the way, getting
caught on hawthorns, lost, pissed off in the heart

of a forecasted storm. At home in cloud,
birds know the root of error is to stray,
and it’s human. Plunging pressure
yields hail and a tern, either Arctic
or Common. Flatter crown, longer neck,
and a long, red, black-tipped bill.
Dusky grey wingtips above and below.

*****

from Vol. 36.1, page 74
Gabe Foreman lives in Montreal.