Poetry
These poems were composed over the last dozen years or so – Yasser Arafat died in 2004. They are to or about my father, Anthony D Lopes (1935–2014), and are selected from my poetry manuscript away home.
My first chapbook in over fifteen years is brought to you by rob mclennan and above/ground press. It was produced in part as a handout for the NYC/CUNY Chapbook Festival held 2 April 2015, about six blocks from NYU Medical Centre where my father died almost six months before.
Some of these poems, or earlier versions of them, have appeared or will appear in Descant, Jacket2 and Touch the Donkey. The first poem, ‘converse,’ has been choreographed by Sarah Lochhead of Simcoe Contemporary Dancers. The City of Barrie’s Cultural Grants Program for Individual Artists – sadly now defunct (grants are still available to arts organizations) – made the writing and editing of some of these poems possible. I am grateful for that support.
Read a poem...
your hammer
1
this hammer
one of the few things
you brought from scotland
is light, well balanced
wood smooth
from use
it lay dormant for years
as uncle has unopened crates
from east africa
in my first house
i reach for your hammer
daily
often
it isn’t there
2
this hammer
emigrated in your
wooden chest
once
when i was small
it held tools
departing aberdeen
you abandoned
a hobby horse
headless
my sister’s pride
unfinished
even at the cottage
i can’t picture you
with tools
my crowbars
& hammers
disassemble
each nail placed
i rebuild
& with every swing
wonder what else
you left behind
$4.00
28 pages, 14 x 22 cm, saddle stitched self-wrappers, photocopy
ISBN 978-1-927636-66-4
first edition of 300 copies
above/ground press, Ottawa, March 2015
concrete poetry cover by lopes
Reviews
“[T]he poems… form an act of recognition; the chapbook picks up the pieces of a broken relationship, not to put them back together, but to place them along a line of identification, no matter how arbitrary that placement might be. If this collection is any indication (and I think it is), Lopes’ future work is sure to be similarly thoughtful and expressive.” – Jeff Low, BrokenPencil.com
