“the remembering” by Jana Olson

July 4, 2024

Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “the remembering” by Jana Olson. Due to its formatting, this poem is only available as an image.

“the remembering”

By Jana Olson

the powdery weightless prairie dust seeps in slowly, so slowly, so slowly through your eyes through your ears through your lips and settles gently over mind and heart not to be dislodged by something so considerable as a puff of breath or a swipe of fingertips first only giving the world a gentle softened edge then overlaying so thickly with a deep sepia tone snapshots from the past moments frozen in time an elder sister’s bossiness a farmyard game the feel of hands on the wheel and foot on the pedals moving oh so fast–oh too fast–toward a new world, a new adventure leaving us behind to feel or to spurn feeling to miss–as we always have– when you’ve gone on without us driving down dusty gravel roads talking to strangers and friends just met exploring taking root at home everywhere and always no more so than now in your own head and heart but your soul shudders itself dust free to remember just a little

Copyright © Jana Olson

Jana Olson writes a little bit, here and there, but not usually for public consumption. She also moms a bit, and occasionally works in libraries and plays in a pottery studio. She loves to vacation and read by a pool. She definitely spends far too much time in garden centres and in Target. Jana loves the prairie and the desert and grain elevators and cozy mysteries. This is her first poem to be published since the early 80s when she had a couple poems published in the Western Producer’s young authors section. She resolves to write poetry more frequently … probably …

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