above/ground press: Deanna Young

Mediterraneo
three poems by Deanna Young
$3

Black Bug

In the days before seatbelts we came to a bridge
through a fine, dark rain. You held the baby on your lap,
as mothers did then, nearly crushing her as we swerved
into the guardrail, then hung there over the river, swollen
and waiting for us to fall. Which is when fate first held
and loved me. Just three, I’d flown through the gap
in the bucket seats and bruised my temple on the dash.
Your shins were gashed, and a familiar tool shed smell
blossomed to mix with rye fumes steaming from his skin
and leather jacket, a smell I did not then identify as blood.

In the hush of rain still falling onto the back of our shiny
black bug, its wings folded. Oncoming cars found cracks
in the windshield and soon, the reassuring scream of sirens.
Beyond that, the other side of the bridge, a blurred and swaying
expanse of years I would find hard to navigate.

published in Ottawa by above/ground press
February 2012
a/g subscribers receive a complimentary copy

Deanna Young’s second book of poems, Drunkard’s Path, was published by Gaspeareau Press in 2001. Her writing has appeared in numerous journals including The Malahat Review and Arc and been aired on CBC radio. She’s currently completing her third manuscript, Knowledge from a Previous Life. Born in Lucan, Ontario, she now lives in Ottawa.

Mediterraneo will be launching as part of The Factory Reading Series in Ottawa on February 17, 2012, alongside a chapbook launch by Michael Blouin, and opening reader, Robin K. Macdonald.

To order, send cheques (add $1 for postage; outside Canada, add $2) to: rob mclennan, 402 McLeod St #3, Ottawa ON K2P 1A6 or paypal at www.robmclennan.blogspot.com

The Factory Reading Series

with readings/launches by:

Deanna Young (Ottawa)
Michael Blouin (Ottawa)
+ Robin K. Macdonald (Gatineau Hills)

lovingly hosted by rob mclennan
Friday, February 17, 2012;
doors 7pm; reading 7:30pm

The Carleton Tavern, 223 Armstrong Street (at Parkdale; upstairs)

Deanna Young’s second book of poems, Drunkard’s Path, was published by Gaspeareau Press in 2001. Her writing has appeared in numerous journals including The Malahat Review and Arc and been aired on CBC radio. She's currently completing her third manuscript, Knowledge from a Previous Life. Born in Lucan, Ontario, she now lives in Ottawa.

She will be launching the chapbook Mediterraneo (above/ground press), a collection of three short poems.

Michael Blouin is a novelist and a poet. He has two books of poetry with Pedlar Press (I’m not going to lie to you 2007, Lampman-Scott Award Finalist) and Wore Down Trust (2011), a novel with Coach House Books (Chase and Haven 2008, ReLit Award Winner and Amazon First Novel Finalist) and a chapbook with Apt. 9 Press. He is represented by Westwood Creative Artists and his online home is www.michaelblouin.org

He will be launching the chapbook let lie/ (above/ground press), an excerpt of a collaboration with Elizabeth Rainer.

Robin K. Macdonald is a poet, creative non-fiction writer and restorative justice practitioner. She has recently returned from Writing with Style at the Banff Centre. Since then, she's been exploring short-stories as a shape to express her adventures in northern Manitoba, where she lived for most of her adult life. Robin now lives in the Gatineau Hills. She has poetry in the most recent issue of ottawater.