Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Spring, as witnessed” by Manahil Bandukwala, from Heliotropia (Brick Books, 2024), shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award and Pat Lowther Memorial Award.

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Spring, as witnessed

By Manahil Bandukwala

by the cardinals:

I was alive yesterday; where were you? Preparing to take our last walk, to become the season the cardinals settle in to.

by the lilacs:

The lilacs want to tell you something. I tuck a sprig behind your ear so you won’t miss a word.

by the shadows:

An astrolabe, all its dials pointing out the movement of the sun, flowers.

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Copyright © Manahil Bandukwala

From Heliotropia (Brick Books 2024), shortlisted for the Raymond Souster Award and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award.

Manahil Bandukwala is a writer and visual artist. She is the author of Heliotropia (Brick Books, 2024) and MONUMENT (Brick Books, 2022), which was shortlisted for the 2023 Gerald Lampert Award. She was selected as a Writer’s Trust of Canada Rising Star in 2023. See her work at manahilbandukwala.com.

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