Spotlight series #33 : Kerry Gilbert

Curated by Canadian writer, editor and publisher rob mclennan, the “spotlight” series appears the first Monday of every month.

STATEMENT

These two poems are from my upcoming poetry collection called Little Red (April 2019 with Mother Tongue Publishing). In Little Red, I retell the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood with contemporary characters. The didactic tale feels even more important and urgent these days. Here are two of my favorite poems about Nana. She intrigued me the most — out of all of the characters within the narrative — her strengths and weaknesses delighted/surprised me throughout the writing.

TWO POEMS

Not sure if it started as an accident, or
on purpose, but she broke every dish
in the house that day — after filling her
glass over and over with my good wine
she was convinced that she had brought
would you like a sip — she asked —
it was made in a delicate, delicious year

it started with a chip in a coffee mug
a split in a side plate and worked its way
to a crescendo of crashing plates smashed
so gracefully across the large living room

with tears in her eyes, Nana kissed the tops
of the children’s heads and gently left
knowing it could be a year or maybe two
till we’d have her back in the house again
already feeling the squeeze of her tiny
one bedroom, one window apartment
and of her slow, slow impending death

She was a real beauty in her youth
enough softness that people wanted
to touch, but enough visible crispness
of bones that made them want to watch
from the corners of any room

men moved continents for her, they
filled her with children that she kind
of loved, in an objective way, like
how someone views a piece of art

but, they were messy too — and loud
and she couldn’t stop smashing things
when the men were away and the
children were always there and when
the moods swung faster than the quarter
she would spin and spin to pass the time
a glass of wine chased by some kind of pill

the memory of those little voices —
screaming, singing, saying sweet things
in her ear — which one was it that liked
to touch ear lobes for comfort — they fill
the white space of her loneliness like
tiny ghosts

Kerry Gilbert lives in Vernon, where she teaches Creative Writing at Okanagan College. Her first book of poetry, (kerplnk): a verse novel of development, was published in 2005 with Kalamalka Press. Her second book of poetry, Tight Wire, was published in 2016 with Mother Tongue Publishing. Little Red, is a new verse collection to be published with Mother Tongue in spring 2019. Gilbert has won the Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry Award for Best Suite by an Emerging Writer and has been shortlisted for ReLit, for the Ralph Gustafson Prize for the Best Poem and for the Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry for Best Suite by an Established Writer. www.kerrygilbert.ca