Hintonburg
Elegy
In a century—
the
banister is worn smooth,
an
oily patina brushed on
by
a child’s sticky first steps,
or
a haphazard grasp
after
too much wine.
The
red porch is ground to dust,
a
tired sag worn before the threshold,
leading
to a door whose knob never
twists
open on the first try.
They
cut down the hedges,
chopped
up the trees,
cauterized
the wildflowers.
Before
the final string of
Christmas
lights is taken down,
an
excavator will crash
through
the bedroom window.
Make
way for the high rise.
Later,
it will floss its terrible teeth,
to
rid itself of bassinets and quilts,
spitting
generations into landfills.
Bird
Watcher’s Survival Guide
Collecting
cancelled
plans
like
your
dirty
laundry
for nesting material
come
spring
Anatomy
of a Linocut
I
stretch out on the table,
exposed
for the artist.
You
sketch some
grand
idea of the future
you
imagine I hold,
graphite’s
impermanence
carving
into my skin.
A
crystal ball lodged
in
my throat, wishbone
embedded
in my spine.
You
select a scalpel,
gouge
out my details.
You
carve thin strips of pink
linoleum
from my chest.
Soft
dust collects below my ribs,
pools
in the shadow of my collarbones.
Ink
trickles from the corner of my eye,
down
the bridge of my nose,
into
an open mouth where
it
settles, sticky in the fine lines.
Roll
it thin until
I
am desirable to you.
The
artist in you reaches
for
the next block,
unmarked,
uncarved.
Your
fingertips bleed indigo,
staining
everything you touch.
This
Time
Road
salt dissolves on my tongue
while
I swallow my pride, chased with
a
sip of raspberry sour. You,
with
your ever changing name,
hand
on my thigh, head on my shoulder,
asking
if I’d stay a little longer.
Dizzy
with strawberry smoke
floating
between us, calloused hands
find
honeyed lips, and
I
stay the night.
Abigail Rabishaw (she/they) is a queer poet, writer, and editor, currently finishing a BA in English at Carleton University. Her work has appeared in Bywords, and she was runner up in the 2019 Carleton English Department Fiction Competition. Abigail edits for Prime Press, the publishing endeavour she started with her partner. You can find her on twitter @abigailrabishaw.