Al from Belleville, or thereabouts
Doug Blair 1951 (London)
Head up, adventuresome
From Belleville and
Prince Edward County.
Bird sanctuaries, cottage folk.
Old wartime airstrip.
Wave at Ivanhoe, the cheese place.
Gaze from marina docks
In Hastings.
Noting reforestation
Trees everywhere, hoping.
Near First Nations lands.
Highway seven crossing
And if unlucky a right turn
Toward nation’s capital
After Perth and Carlton Place.
Ottawa was usually
A nasty bone in his throat
Mulroney, Chretien, Martin
(and the shipping company).
But Levesque was far worse.
Dissecting a Nation, maybe.
Cigarette hanging
As if ready to detonate something
Of value and
Exceptional history.
Turn from hominids
To other mammals.
Al’s favourites since
Before puberty.
And made mythical in
Many frozen moments.
Beavers of Renfrew.
Mythical Fox jogging
Highway 500 at midnight.
Comical furry sled huskies
In Pang on the Baffin.
Riding the rails out to BC.
MURDERING a pestering
Boxcar pervert.
Maybe, not sure.
(He vanished into rail-side brush.
At high speed.)
Working timber, apples.
Fraser River marvels.
Short RCAF commission.
Marrying a solid partner.
Cuba, post revolution’s
Muggy promises.
Mexico and hot mayhem.
And panhandling, full culture.
Leningrad with all those
Stressed faces.
Churches in mothballs.
Can’t keep Al* quiet.
Typewriter always clacking.
Poesie.
Provocative.
Purdy.
About this poem
Al Purdy is a Canadian poet of stellar proportions. Refreshing and manly. Wanderer.
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Written on February 16, 2023
Submitted by dougb.21370 on February 16, 2023
Modified by dougb.21370 on February 16, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 9 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | X A B C X D X E X E F X D B X G B X B E A D H X X X X E X D F C E X X X H H G I X X I X X X C |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,382 |
Words | 296 |
Stanzas | 47 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
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"Al from Belleville, or thereabouts" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/151762/al-from-belleville,-or-thereabouts>.
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