Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Avoiding the Rocks” by Marsha Barber.

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Avoiding the Rocks

By Marsha Barber

We took the old rowboat 

across the lake, 

you at three 

curled up between the seats 

sleeping fetally 

on the extra life jackets. 

We dipped the oars 

into the thick, clear waters, 

parting them like dark hairs 

stroking carefully 

so as not to splash 

your soft cheeks 

and when I leaned over 

to cover your plump legs with a towel 

so they wouldn’t burn 

you smelled of sunlight 

and milk 

and we were so careful then 

to avoid 

the rocks, 

so quick to wave away  

the black flies 

as you stirred 

then fell back 

into a trusting sleep. 

We wanted everything for you: 

clear skies, and waters calm 

as breath. 

Back then 

we were young enough 

to believe 

we could actually keep you 

from harm. 

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Copyright © Marsha Barber

Previously published in All the Lovely Broken People. First appeared in Poetry Pause on September 16, 2020.

Marsha Barber’s fourth poetry book, Kaddish for My Mother, was published by Ottawa’s Borealis Press last year. Her writing has appeared in such periodicals as the Literary Review of Canada, The Antigonish Review, FreeFall, The New Quarterly, The Walrus, Juniper and The Prairie Journal. She has won many awards for her work, and been longlisted for the national ReLit prize and shortlisted for the the Montreal International Poetry Prize. Marsha has read her poetry all over the world, including in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She’s served as chair of the judging committee for the League of Canadian Poets’ Pat Lowther Award, and is on faculty at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto.

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