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    Reunion
    Reunion
    Reunion
    Ebook89 pages28 minutes

    Reunion

    By Deanna Young

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Poems that unfold like liturgy, confronting old violence with a trembling, dignified restraint.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrick Books
    Release dateOct 1, 2018
    ISBN9781771314893
    Reunion
    Author

    Deanna Young

    Deanna Young’s previous books include House Dreams, nominated for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry, the Ottawa Book Award, the Archibald Lampman Award and the ReLit Award, and Drunkard’s Path. Young grew up in southwestern Ontario during the 1970s and ’80s. Reunion, her fourth collection, belongs to that place and time. She now lives in Ottawa, where she works as an editor and teaches poetry privately.

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      Book preview

      Reunion - Deanna Young

      Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

      Young, Deanna, 1964–, author

      Reunion / Deanna Young.

      Poems.

      Issued in print and electronic formats.

      ISBN 978-1-77131-488-6 (softcover).—ISBN 978-1-77131-490-9 (PDF).—

      ISBN 978-1-77131-489-3 (EPUB)

      I. Title.

      ps8597.o592r48 2018            c811’.54            c2018-902173-x

                                                                               c2018-902174-8

      Copyright © Deanna Young, 2018

      We acknowledge the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, and the Ontario Arts Council for their support of our publishing program.

      The author photo was taken by Alice Young.

      Brick Books

      431 Boler Road, Box 20081

      London, Ontario N6K 4G6

      www.brickbooks.ca

      Dedication

      And this, a story

      For all the children whose lives

      Begin burning down

      Though the lamp’s just been lit—

      Who ask themselves

      Daily, Why be born for this?

      Who crawl under the smoke

      But don’t find the door.

      For those who survive, hope.

      For the others, infinite love.

      My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air,

      Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same . . .

      —Walt Whitman

      We were blessed by the forlorn

      Forsaken and abused

      —Lucinda Williams

      Contents

      Ghost Prayer

      Like Bees

      Rain Psalm

      Holy Ghost

      Ballad of the Central Hotel

      Reunion

      Witness

      Ken

      Sleep

      We Gather

      Sheila Margaret

      Dark

      Supper Prayer

      Lilac

      Sermon on the House

      Rain Song

      Tiny

      The Shillelagh

      Whips and Scorns

      Picking Stones

      Titty Ditty

      Gentle Evening

      The Lamp

      Jean Young, Matriarch, Speaks from the Grave

      Baptist Luncheon

      Girl at Home

      The Flame

      How the Sounds Carry

      Nancy

      And Eyes So Black

      Kennedy Cousins

      Recrimination

      What Voice

      4:00 a.m.

      The Holy Bottle

      Lola

      Riddle

      Visit, 4:00 a.m.

      Ballad of Young John

      Twilight

      Amends

      Lamb

      Early

      Reunion

      The Gully

      Ghosts of Themselves

      Acknowledgements

      Ghost Prayer

      Let the ghosts greet you.

      Go to the crossroads

      and wait till you hear

      the ruffled breath of their horses.

      They are coming

      because they know you’re there.

      Welcome them as you would

      your young self, long lost—

      like breezes let them in.

      Stand in the open doorways

      to catch their empty sleeves

      as they pass from room to room.

      They’ve seen enough to know

      it won’t be easy. Love

      and mercy, mercy and love—

      Let them speak first

      and with your living body listen.

      Like Bees

      Look out

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