Canadian Literature of the Vietnam War

An Online Anthology

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Bowering, George – “News”

news

George Bowering

Every day I add an inch
to the pile of old newspapers
in the closet.

In that three foot pile now
a dozen airliner crashes,
one earthquake in Alaska,
seventeen American soldiers
face down in Asian mud.

I could go on enumerating
like newsprint – we record
violent death & hockey scores
& keep the front room neat.

In front of me, on the table
my empty coffee cup, somewhat melted
butter, carbon copy of an old poem,
familiar things, nothing unexpected.

A plane could crash into the kitchen –
a fissure could jag the floor open –
some olive faced paratrooper bash
his rifle butt thru the window –

It would be news, somewhere.

Bowering, George. “News.” The Silver Wire. Kingston, ON: Quarry, 1966. 35.

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