Communion, 1985 by Keagan Hawthorne

Poem title: Communion, 1985

Poet name: Keagan Hawthorne

Poem: Bread:             The men work late tonight.

                                   All over the county the lights

                                   of big machines stitch imaginary lines

                                   across the dark quilt of land.

 

Salt:                My grandmother monitors the CB radio

                                   from the kitchen. Cigarettes and Ballantine’s

                                   while she makes roast beef sandwiches

                                   and directs the grain trucks where to go.

 

Wine:             The driver rolls down his window

                                   and night air chills the cab.

                                   He sips over-brewed tea from a thermos,

                                   thinks of anything else, longs for bed.

End of poem.

Credits and bio: Copyright © Keagan Hawthorne

 

Previously published in After the Harvest (Gaspereau Press, 2023).

 

Keagan Hawthorne is a poet, letterpress printer, and proprietor of The Hardscrabble Press. His debut poetry collection After the Harvest was published by Gaspereau Press in 2023. The manuscript was awarded the Alfred G. Bailey prize, and a selection from it won the John Lent Poetry and Prose Award. He lives in Mi’kma’ki at Sackville, New Brunswick, with his wife and daughter. He works at the Mount Allison University Library.