Oct 2019
What’s the final cost
of tripping the canoe on a tricky wave
and failing for nights and days to lift it up again
and patch the places broken through by knives of rock?
What pit bull boats with padded chests for prows,
with ears of wind-filled sail, will pass us by and knock
another panel from our body with their wake?
What lost islands do the well ships seek?
Where do they go beyond the sea-hemmed sky?
Those who can still row, who still know why.
of tripping the canoe on a tricky wave
and failing for nights and days to lift it up again
and patch the places broken through by knives of rock?
What pit bull boats with padded chests for prows,
with ears of wind-filled sail, will pass us by and knock
another panel from our body with their wake?
What lost islands do the well ships seek?
Where do they go beyond the sea-hemmed sky?
Those who can still row, who still know why.
B.T. Joy is a British poet and short fiction writer living in Glasgow. He has also lived in London, Aberdeen and Heilongjiang, Northern China. His poetry and short fiction has appeared in magazines, journals, anthologies and podcasts worldwide including poetry in Yuan Yang, The Meadow, Toasted Cheese, Numinous: Spiritual Poetry, Presence, Paper Wasp, Bottle Rockets, Mu, Frogpond and The Newtowner, among many others. His debut collection of poetry, Teaching Neruda, was released in 2015 by Popcorn Press and his 2016 collection Body of Poetry is also available through Amazon. He can be reached through his website: http://btj0005uk.wix.com/btjoypoet
