Black Spruce by Kevin Irie

September 26, 2022
Poet name: Kevin Irie Poem title: Black Spruce Poem: Black spruce; strange fires –John Thompson A black spruce toppled to dry splintered wood is danger advancing to better conditions. Not yet a threat but coming soon. Fuel for the oven it stokes in itself. The future address of a landscape’s demise forwarded to a delivery of random kindling stacked like junk mail, unnoticed, unread, until air offers an invitation of upward mobility. For tinder to rise to the top as fire when a heat wave delivers what waits to arrive. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Kevin Irie Previously published in The Tantramar Re-Vision (McGill-Queen’s University Press 2021) Kevin Irie is a Japanese-Canadian poet. His poems have been published in Canada, the States, Australia, and England, been broadcast on CBC Radio and have been translated into Spanish, French, and Japanese. He has twice been long-listed for the CBC Poetry Prize and also shortlisted for Arc’s Poem of the Year. His book The Colour of Eden was a finalist for 1997 The Toronto Book Award. Angel Blood: The Tess Poems, was nominated for the 2005 ReLit Award. His book, Viewing Tom Tomson: A Minority Report was a finalist for the 2013 Acorn-Plantos People’s Poetry Award and the Toronto Book Award. His new book, The Tantramar Re-Vision (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021) was picked by the CBC as one of the Spring Poetry Books 2021 and by Quill and Quire Magazine as part of their 2021 Summer Reading Guide. He lives in Toronto.