Don’t kill me, father!
— Euripides, Herakles
Freshly cut, it is bluish white.
It tarnishes in the moistness
of air to grey. The grey allows
the black to show through. The first dose
drowns the original anger
in bright bliss. The next doses take
the anger, hide it, increase it,
make it...
Russell Thornton’s The Hundred Lives (Quattro Books, 2014) was shortlisted for the Griffin Prize. His Birds, Metals, Stones & Rain (Harbour Publishing, 2013) was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award. A new book, The Broken Face, is due out in 2018. He lives in North Vancouver. He is currently reading The Heavy Bear by Tim Bowling and Vancouver poet Rodney DeCroo’s new collection, Next Door to the Butcher Shop.
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