“i wish i could write poems” by Jane Shi

May 13, 2025

Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “i wish i could write poems” by Jane Shi, from echolalia echolalia (Brick Books, 2024), shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award. Due to its formatting, this poem is only available as an image.

View the 2025 book award shortlists

i wish i could write poems

By Jane Shi

after Desirée Dawson

about quiet lakes roads that wound & wound until you saw a bear slip your crush’s hands into a clasp the horizon melted smile of your eyes stayed it wanted to stay about lilac baubles near Azure you beamed bouncy chorus pigtail gel penned candies on Halloween soft with cherry scents eye makeup joy without reservation about galloping galaxy blankets of dots that waved when you saw them don’t worry I’m here, I’m here about binge-watching Arthur until 4am shifting sandbox clumsy knees turning to shake pebble tears around & around the others can’t see you about wiping away memories (did you know?) a new poem is a counter that no longer has nightmares made of spicy Indomie noodles & fried rice repetitions that somehow (I don’t know how) got the rent paid like your sheepish I’m sorry that rainy autumn evening took away your crayons marbles Oreos budgies even the worms (!!!) about How to Be Good but your sixth-grade teacher said oh no you can’t do that when you flipped through the little red Testament at silent reading that November about the papery red boxes at yeye nainai’s roasted chicken by the big big grave it happened to smack your name right dab in the middle about Minoru Park herons who mimicked the love life of old ones all summer all winter the lifelong watchers of lunes about monkey bar hands that burned & bloomed against the new black Billabong hoodie the cool girl was mad I wore on the same Wednesday as she did I wish I could write poems where the poem’s alive marched into my apartment to slap the coffee table let in a cat with a wide wide mouth I took lots & lots of photos shouted it’s the next ice age! & the mirror in the bathroom whispered I love you I love you where the poems are asleep during nap time at preschool with one stanza open watched & wondered what it would be like to be taller oh taller than a stanza one day one day

Copyright © Jane Shi

From echolalia echolalia (Brick Books, 2024), shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award.

Jane Shi is a poet, writer, and organizer living on the occupied, stolen, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlil̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples. She is the author of the chapbook Leaving Chang’e on Read (Rahila’s Ghost Press, 2022) and the winner of The Capilano Review’s 2022 In(ter)ventions in the Archive Contest. Her debut poetry collection is echolalia echolalia (Brick Books, 2024). She wants to live in a world where love is not a limited resource, land is not mined, hearts are not filched, and bodies are not violated.

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