The Day Before Canada Day by Patrick Connors

July 14, 2023
Poem title: The Day Before Canada Day Poet name: Patrick Connors Poem: A young doe, more than a yearling, pokes her head out between two trees adjacent to the gate of the parking lot in front of the building where I live. The beautiful creature furtively climbs a shallow hill leading to the sidewalk. To her left is a lady with a rolling suitcase. To her right is a young boy on a bicycle. With natural grace and instinctive fear, the doe ambles back down the slope to shelter. Across the street at a bus stop, I realized I had no idea how to provide help or comfort. Not long before I was born, wild animals roamed free throughout this part of town. The street immediately north of the one on which I live is called Huntingwood. In the high rise aspiration for hastily erected concrete and glass amidst the cacophony of constant traffic the presence of a deer seems out of place. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Patrick Connors Previously published in Canadian Stories magazine, (October/November 2022 issue). Patrick Connors first chapbook, Scarborough Songs, was released by Lyricalmyrical Press in 2013, and charted on the Toronto Poetry Map. He contributed 18 poems to Bottom of the Wine Jar, published in 2017 by SandCrab Press, and launched in Gibara, Cuba.He has had work printed in Belgium, India, and the United Kingdom, in addition to the United States and Canada. Past publication credits include: Blue Collar Review; The Toronto Quarterly 4; Spadina Literary Review; Tamaracks; and Tending the Fire, released in spring 2020 by the League of Canadian Poets. Recent publication credits include: Poetry and Covid; Devour; Lummox 9 Anthology; Canadian Stories; Harbinger Asylum; Silver Birch Press; and Poetry Pause. He has performed at the Austin International Poetry Festival; featured in numerous reading series such as The Art Bar, Wild Writers, and Plasticine Poetry; hosted events under the 100,000 Poets for Change banner, as well as the United May Day Committee; and was on the organizing committee for The Great Canadian PoeTrain Tour. His first full collection, The Other Life, is available from Mosaic Press. His newest chapbook, Worth the Wait, was released this spring by Cactus Press.