“Potato Cellar” by Garth Martens
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Potato Cellar” by Garth Martens.
Potato Cellar
By Garth Martens
No bottom there but blackness,
stored heat
among compact eyes.
I pull potatoes into a pail. I pull,
I pull it, I pull a potato,
expose it to the porchlight,
disguised, absorbing sound,
earth-powder
russetting my palm-print,
freckling like my hand, in time,
arrowhead
blemish, matte flash of Black Widow,
as if jolted.
Today, I fall back in love with an old joke,
sleepwalking, taking charge.
I reach into a dent
until I am up to the shoulder
awaiting a bad thing.
Sprouts piled up,
a banked green, no light from the core.
This sleeve is
with me wherever I go
among marriagesโฆ highwaysโฆ
phosphorescencesโฆ and you,
old friendโฆ
Copyright ยฉ Garth Martens
Previously published in Who Else in the Dark Headed There (Biblioasis Press, 2026).
Garth Martens is the author of Who Else in the Dark Headed There (Biblioasis, 2026), Remediation (JackPine, 2018), and Prologue for the Age of Consequence (Anansi, 2014), a finalist for the Governor Generalโs Literary Award for Poetry. He is also a co-founder of Palabra Flamenco, a literary flamenco ensemble that joins traditional flamenco dance and music with poetry and oral storytelling. He lives on Vancouver Island. Find him on Instagram @garthmartens.
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