“The Reservoir” by Hannah Siden
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “The Reservoir” by Hannah Siden.
The Reservoir
By Hannah Siden
Montreal comes out of nowhere
every so often –
a gust of deli-scented smoke
or flare of neon glow
tumbles me to Rue St Cuthbert
A 30-below room with a view
Cold seeps around peeling windows
& Anya cooks pasta in a frying pan
Natalie gifts me a plant for my birthday
with a note that reads
I am tropical
& will die if you keep me in your bedroom
In fits of giggles
we only learn that the dep next door
is actually a front
after buying expired milk three times
On Rue St Laurent
I am supposed to be studying
Anya & Natalie capture me
from the Second Cup on the corner
Waving masquerade masks & a bottle of Jack
they insist This is our time to be alive
You know, that night my life shines
so bright on the cobblestones
In the mornings, though – sometimes
Montreal comes like the 50-year-old guy in the club
wearing an ill-fitting suit & tie
& watching us dance
The surprise of a heavy tongue
Red track marks of nails into flesh
The dark still silhouette of a girl who thought
he was walking her home
Nights counting the drips of the sink
Morning visits to the university clinic Back again
I fail at being the ideal patient
but I’m good at my classwork so
I don’t mind quite as much & the shine
still hasn’t left the pavement
The snow burns at my feet
My cheeks redden in the blue-eyed wind
Montreal comes out of that blue, expectant
I say Meet me at the corner of Pine & McTavish
Kiss me by the pink light of the reservoir
then watch me walk home alone
Copyright © Hannah Siden
Hannah is a writer and filmmaker living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver, BC). Her poems have been published in PRISM International, Canthius, Room, Metatron Press and elsewhere. She can be found on Twitter @hannah_siden or at hannahsiden.com.
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