Poetry By Lynn Tait

      Dave Cowley CC




janis joplin, cry cry baby                   

I’m in for the diamonds
but please call me pearl—
an irritation on the half shell,
salt in your wound--
so pass me the bottle,
pass me that spoon,
riding the white horse
I’ll be fine, ya know
my veins are vinyl.
 
hold me loose brother, the company
wants my flesh, my mouth
wrapped ‘round their dicks,
anyone goin’ down on me
ain’t stayin’ long,
it’s way too dark down there.
did I do ok?
I’m still a f-ing freak
but with greenbacks in my hair.

take me back to san francisco.
bury me alive in needles and glass.
I’m your southern comfort,
your levi lovin’ fix.
look! I’m flying!
trippin’ but not on stars.
I’m goin’ full tilt ‘til I bust. 
man, this big blue kozmic ride
sure as hell beats texas dust.





Writing About All This During the Polar Vortex

There’s a weather report—another front
of unpredictability is heading this way.
And why not head directly towards me,
right now, right here?
It’s happened before,
the change that snaps at us.

I could compare my life to the story of Job,
but that wouldn’t be right. It’s been a good run:
all the bad stuff that didn’t happen,
all those years dancing to the sound of broken drums,
all the paths leading to dead ends,
surviving dark sides without light sabres.

And I did get exactly what I asked for,
forever and in earnest:
unto me a son was born--
unaware of an expiry date.

Was death the only safety net?
“Jesus, look out for him,” I prayed.
Perhaps he did exactly that.
And in the time it takes
a grain of sand to fall,
I’m one thing less
than I was before.

A soundless door slams shut.
Everything remains the same
yet there’s a minus.
A without, but with
a business as usual feel to the air,
a grounding—while I hover,
harness my life to a sled-dog lead,
command it to heel;

and if not careful, this metaphor
will grow larger, more powerful,
turn into the black ice and blizzard
I’ve been dreading all my life.




Lynn Tait is an award-winning poet/photographer residing in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. Her poems have appeared in FreeFall, Vallum, CV2, Literary Review of Canada, Trinity Review, High Shelf Press, Quarantine Review, Verse/Virtual, Muleskinner, Last Leaves and published in over 100 anthologies. She is a member of the Ontario Poetry Society, the League of Canadian Poets, the Writers’ Union of Canada and associate member of the American Academy of Poets and. Her debut poetry collection You Break It, You Buy It is forthcoming in 2023 with Guernica Editions.