“For Deborah” by Nan Williamson
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “For Deborah” by Nan Williamson, part of the League’s Fresh Voices program.
For Deborah
By Nan Williamson
Early morning, barbaric ice
crazed the window
in the bedroom where my sister
came to us to die.
Each day, the shadow of a blackbird
crossed it – swoop and rise – circled
in slow fluttering flight, then settled
A dark silhouette on a bare branch.
Deb woke at first light, eager for strong
coffee laced with cream and honey.
High on Dex , she marvelled at the cold
pale light of winter’s sun,
the grey and cloud-piled sky, changing
hues and shapes, the snow-lined trees,
finches, jays, seen from her window
a frame for branches etched against the snow.
I treasure her glad moments of delight-
the sight of sun-rays striking blue bottles
on the kitchen window sill, crystal goblets
glinting, stems up on a red linen towel,
or green pears in a deep blue bowl.
From her window, she watched leaves
frost-crisped, break from trees and fall,
blackbirds feed below the barren maples.
She left us at eleven Easter morning.
All afternoon it was dark. It was snowing
and showed no sign of letting up.
Copyright © Nan Williamson
Nan Williamson is an emerging poet, a teacher, artist, and author living in Peterborough. She is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers, Toronto, 2013. Her chapbook, leave the door open for the moon, was published by Jackson Creek Press in 2015.Always interested in the verbal-visual connection, Nan plays with shapes, colours, and texture to wed form and content in paint and poetry. More than 70 of her poems have been published in Canada, the US, and the UK. For National Poetry month, April, 2023 the League of Canadian Poets sponsored a public reading featuring Nan and her small group of poetry writing colleagues.
Fresh Voices is a publication and workshop program created by and for the League’s associate members.
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