*my poems from the ubco creative writing anthology

CRWR 126 Alumni (OUC equivalent: ENGL 126)

Who would have guessed
that 4 years later
we would be the only ones
still sitting in this bar
(I used to call it my bar,
but I can’t name every bartender anymore)

I think that one night we had ten poets
around one table
competing in wing consumption
smoking cigarettes (because it was still legal)
or telling stories of abandoning
the nicotine vice
all drinking $10 pitchers of Winchester
or the house red (and stealing the vessel)
in practice of the perfect Wednesday

Poetry was something new
to me,
at least in the way I interacted with it
I felt like everyone around me
was the next Charles Bukowski or
e.e. cummings
and in this dingy bar
there was a place
for all of our first-year-brilliance

But if we were to try
to take the group picture,
that we never took then, now
most people would be unavailable
in fact it would be just us
in a bar that neither of us frequent
where the cheap pitchers on Wednesday
are Blue instead of Winchester



The Banana Pancake Trail (Plus Java)

When someone tells me their travel plans
I tell them to make sure to take time
to walk the road alone

It’s not what I planned to do
even though my flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong
was on a plane filled with strangers

In Hong Kong my friend met me
as soon as I’d passed security, he was expecting me
while he explored the city alone for 3 days

Once we were together we ran across the airport
to catch a plane to Bangkok
were we’d find seven more of my friends

To make things happen in groups of more than two
can be like pulling teeth
and even pairs have their limitations

Alone means the itinerary is yours alone
and the only baggage you carry
is the baggage you bring

But it means that no one will carry that baggage with you
if you stumble or start to burn out
and if you can’t carry it on your back, leave it

When someone tells me their travel plans
I tell them to make sure to take time
to walk the road alone

Because in walking the road alone
I learned everything that I need to know
about leaving

*I washed my hair for the first time in almost three and a half years

So, you may have read on the Myface or the Spacebook, or whatever us kids are using these days that I washed my hair. It's true, for the first time since November of first year (I think that's 2005).

Why, you ask?
No real reason... mostly an impulsive decision that I made in class today.

What does dirt from 6 different countries that has been stored in dreads for over 3 years look like on the floor of a shower?
Kind of like coffee with cream... maybe a double double.

I guess that's it for now.

love

*Designated Splash Zone

Designated Splash Zone

The urinal at Creekside Pub
always flushes before I’m done

The stream just barely begins
to hit the puck
and I hear activity in the pipes
that indicates that a cascade
of back-splashing water
is seconds away

I take a half-step back
and try not to get any on the floor

I’m thankful that my pants are dark
and no droplets will be visible
but a pretty big drop
got my hand.

*findings