A Biblical Bestiary #1

.
... blind guides, which strain at a gnat,

Sebastian Munster, Cosmographia

and swallow a camel. 
--  St. Matthew 23:24

In Arabia Felix this is the season
when the camels swarm:
huge hummocky windborne
packages of hair and dangling legs and spit
blundering like busses through the ochre air.

The wise traveller, knowing better than to speak
or yawn, will make his way across the sand
in silence.

Celebrating National Poetry Month

green silk

shaken out to air on hedgerows

           . . . another April

Woodcut: The Works of Edmund Spenser, Volume I (1930)

April is National Poetry Month in Canada, and on April 6th I'll be reading at the New Westminster Public Library in company with poets Candice James, Jacqueline Maire and Alejandro Mujica-Olea. The event is sponsored by the League of Canadian Poets in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Public Lending Right program.Readings begin at 7 p.m., an open mic follows, and pre-registration is requested at 604-527-4667