Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. This June, Poetry Pause celebrates Indigenous and LGBTQI2S+ poets for Indigenous History Month and Pride Month! Read “skerwink” by katie o’brien.

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skerwink

By katie o’brien

dig holes in my skin

peels it flakes drying cod

on forgotten wharfs 

geological uprising

rock walls bleed water

old man’s

flowerbeard 

wearing stolen orthotics at

the stone site of capelin

suicide squads 

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Copyright © katie o’brien

Previously published in the 25th issue of Riddle Fence (2016), based in St. John’s, Ktaqmkuk.. Originally appeared in Poetry Pause on July 27, 2020.

katie o’brien (they/them) is a community worker and poet living in Kjipuktuk (Halifax). Their fifth chapbook, two ten six, was published by The Blasted Tree in October 2022.

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