From Out of Nowhere

By John Toone

From Out of Nowhere explores how cities have changed the landscape for prairie poetry. The poems find the intersections where nature speaks through cowboys, hunters, fishers, farmers, and businessmen. These voices are captured in cityscapes where they mutate, harmonize, and resonate to give new meaning to old turns of phrase, calls to actions, and directions home.

The characters here find themselves in new, sometimes confusing roles: the cowboy wakes up a street person, hunters and fishers devolve into sportsmen, and the farmer is pressed to see himself as a businessman.

In the end, From Out of Nowhere reveals that it is in our green spaces where we are reminded of our past, our present, and our uncertain future, and how we find ourselves, and our spirit, somewhere between city and country.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Turnstone Press
• Release date: Apr 15, 2009
• ISBN: 9780888014818

John Toone

John Toone is a writer and business consultant. He has a BA in English and a Bachelor of Commerce, both from the University of Manitoba. His poetry has been published in Prairie Fire and dANDelion and other publications. He lives in Winnipeg with his wife and children.

Book preview

first introduction

en route

to canada post’s

drop off point

i will not be left to die

with the others in wheelbarrows

a reply expected

walking papers

sealed

within three years

ten acres (at minimum)

of woods cleared

thereafter at one with

toe nailed together and

under lock and key

handed over

to gain title

just up to

the corner

await the exchange

forever it seems

i am short on time

sincerely yours

i keep moving

like clockwork

the letters

roll off my tongue

steady my lip

godspeed then

this poem

when I am done

we are finished

experimenting

so

unhand me

please

for now

it is

my turn

to be

as you

put it

magnified

under

the glass

slide like a clean sheet

armed with a mechanical pencil

to plot

when i am done

proving you wrong

not another word

we are through

but for the moment

gone

done and

got it

over

able never again to put on a good face, the others fall silent

hide in the shallow subjects of gossip pages all too obliging to

make (in)visible the struggle for peace and quiet and deep affection

identify with

the individual

night after night

splayed

in black and white

misplaced

eyeglasses

burning up

when a cold arrives

we accumulate

so later

the confines

of a smaller place

early age

plans

spread across

flatlands

that have that

look of knowing

all too well

where this is going

nowhere quickly

warning

(someone else talking here)

let it be said

best

to emerge

swinging

strike

the

to die for

chord

a screamer like

born and raised

with a cold shovel

off he rambled

for the