Writers North of 54 are a diverse group of poets committed to showcasing the work of the North. This geographical region, sometimes known as the hinterland, has a unique culture independant of its southern urban neighbours. The anthologies celebrate our region.
Left to right: Norma Kerby, Jesse McCloskey, Solveig Adair, Martha Swinn, Baxter Huston, Guest Artist: Leslie Barnwell, Harold Feddersen, Joan Conway
Feverish for Spring
Will you be there forever blossoming?
Birth the way like moose in early spring
with mournful calls and dull eyes.
The first to arrive forceful like a fist,
squeezing every charged particle
when you burst out of fecund mud.
Not unlike water lily,
better yet a lotus,
you arrive ferocious in your golden gown.
Tucked inside a hooded leaf,
arrive foul stinking,
grow like a B grade horror film.
Make no mistake!
I search you out fanatical with hibernation.
A bear, all shaggy haired and skinny ribbed.
I too am fallible,
forlorn in the endless grey,
stumble about with no end in sight.
Locked jaw and monkey brain
striped of all decency,
your torch guides the way.
Joan Conway
From anthology, ‘Skunk Cabbage’