“Jane d’Eau” by Tanis MacDonald
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Jane d’Eau” by Tanis MacDonald.
Jane d’Eau
By Tanis MacDonald
Jane dโEau is a creeky faucet, a mug of tea on a muddy bank, a duck with two drakes, a muskrat house.
Jane dโEau is not your martyr, but sheโll tug the brim of her hat low, because she only has eyes for creek.
Youโre looking at the inventor of the Booter. She likes you with wet feet, with webbed feet, clart between
your toes.
She tore down the last fence by the marsh. Jane dโEau is a marvel of catastrophe, trophe by trophe, cat
by cat; she doesnโt mind if you fish, but you better know when to swim for it.
Jane dโEau hears sheโs in the news these days, and everyoneโs watching their basement for her sudden
cameo appearance, for her lengthy run, for her held-over engagement.
Jane dโEau thinks the sump pump in your basement is an adorable little confection and she rusts it with
her cold teeth.
Copyright ยฉ Tanis MacDonald
Forthcoming in Tall, Grass, Girl (Book*hug, October 2026).
Tanis MacDonald (she/they) is the author of seven books of poetry and nonfiction, including Tall, Grass, Girl (Book*hug 2026). Tanis is a free-range literary animal and thinker at large who lives in the Grand River Watershed region.
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