The Literary Review of Canada

To learn more about the LRC's recent shift to charitable status, click here.

Get free email updates!

This Poem was published in the December 2007 Issue

Carnival Yard

Share |

Sandy Shreve has published four poetry collections, most recently Suddenly, So Much (Exile Editions, 2005). She founded British Columbia’s popular Poetry in Transit project and co-edited the groundbreaking anthology, In Fine Form, with Kate Braid. For the past year, Sandy has been steeped in Karen Armstrong’s books on comparative theology (two must-reads are The Great Transformation and A Short History of Myth). She has also been reading lots of poetry over the past several months—including, unforgettably, Don McKay’s Strike/Slip.

Thrushes back! Juncos!
Yard’s a-hoppin’ — towhees, too…
Winter carnival!

        Whee! to winter! Yard-
        hopping, too! Carnival’s back —
        Thrushes. A junco.

Winter yard: Juncos,
thrushes, towhees hopping back
to a carnival.

        Backyard carnival —
        jocant towhees, thrushes, us:
        oo, winter’s hoppin’!

Hoppin’ juncos, yard’s
a towhee carnival! Two
thrushes. Winter’s back.

        Backyard towhees hush;
        juncos stop hopping. Winter
        carnival at rest.

after Brian Bartlett’s “Shuffles”

Read more from the December 2007 Issue, including all related letters.