Watching for life / David Zieroth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zieroth, David, author.

Series:

Hugh MacLennan poetry series

The Hugh MacLennan poetry series

Language:

English

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

ix, 101 pages ; 20 cm.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2022]

Summary:

"From a balcony overlooking an urban back lane, a poet watches those walking below - their identities unknown and yet grasped through real and imagined evidence of foibles and personal inclinations, details of habit that reflect the strangers' inner selves, humanity in all its weaknesses, illnesses, and propensities. In watching for life David Zieroth ponders questions about how to live and how to continue. The poems reach out in imagining the lives of others, and the poet himself is watched in turn. Zieroth conjures the history of his environment and the people who pass through it, reminding us of "the place we occupy / unfinished within ourselves" and our hunger to locate ourselves in the strangers we encounter. Intimate and observant, watching for life features poetic reflections on men, women, children, crows and gulls, pigeons, rain and snow, patched pavement, delivery trucks, night, and time."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: On the journey toward my dead parents

The patchwork pavement of the lane

I look down into my back lane

On the dual nature of things, I write

The yellow dog has no apprehension

The skinny man with the stiff leg

Some men are striders, and here's one

When you died it took me many days

And when the poem fails

The crow lands, infused with purpose

He enters the lane lunging

A couple walks in the lane

I take these old photos and dump them

Into air space above the lane

She's down there every day at four

The man in the lane today, has he

I wish to announce from my balcony

I weave an effigy out of black socks

I beseech all you below, please

In winter the lane is bleak, colourless

At night darkness fills the lane

I awake in the morning to find

Where do pigeons go when it rains

At last I see the man I'm waiting for

Those I have said goodbye to

As this man walks he tilts, favours

I step out for air but it is not

How easily I change

As the rain falls, distance increases

At end of day a moment

I feel the lament in me growing

Reading about an old man dying

You would think we're experts now

So much time is spent waiting

I take off my glasses and the lane becomes

How many of us remain unfinished

If only I could take pictures with my eyes

I was tired of living alone, she says

Doggone it, is there anyone down there

Why is it so difficult to live

How I would like to see a ship

No borders run the length of the lane

I'd like to check off

Some days I hear thoughts

I recognize those who have written

I look straight out, not down

Bent man below, you may have heard

I watch those who are strong

Above the lane the clouds break apart

A tale of two neighbours begins

The crow flies in, lands on a power line

Here comes a face made ugly

Best answer for how to review your mistakes

A body falls out of the sky, legs up

When the face of sorrow appears

Dear city fathers or mothers or planners

If only I could see the dead walking here

I went to the doctor and the doctor said

That black thing on the pavement

Anyone down there wanna come up

It could happen some night

He who hesitates is lost is not

Today I have discovered again how

Suddenly the heart eases, I don't know why

Of course the gods have fled the lane.

Other Format:

Online version: Zieroth, David, 1946- Watching for life.

ISBN:

9780228014744

0228014743

OCLC:

1309132816