kellyshepherd.com

The original text of edmonton poems, a chapbook published by Michael Gravel’s Dirtpuppy Press in 2004…  

edmonton poems

© 2004

kelly shepherd

www.dirtpuppy.com

 

edmonton poems

kelly shepherd

 

summer haiku

1.

hailstones melt in the sun
watering the battered flowers

2.

cat scratching at the door
shows me the four a.m. moon

3.

boiling water for morning coffee,
we let the kettle do the talking

4.

bookstore: mother in pink, daughter in black
and both sing along with the Rolling Stones

5.

everyone is wearing
a halo on their head –
beautiful sunset

 

homeless shelter poems

1.

fingers stained brown from collecting butts off the ground
some sit and roll smokes, laugh and forget the cold outside
others sit quietly, eyes darker than the midnight room

2.

he checked in with only a bottle for belongings,
mostly empty, its cap missing so we sealed it with tape
which he dropped on the floor
on his way out the next morning

3.

we’re full – I’m sorry – you can’t come in
“God forgive you,” he says
as I close the door in his face
and reduce him to a mark of ink on paper
which is what he looks like,
as he walks off into the snow

4.

homeless shelter, five a.m.
silent except for breathing
and the black and white TV evangelist

5.

old man
his braids are smoke
his hands are tobacco
his clothing is winter sidewalk
his eyes are summer night sky