National Poetry Month 2015: Jennifer Londry,

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Saturday night olive and martini mixer.

Pink paper sky

key bowl

a tussle of shoes.

Sunken living room

plush corduroy sectional, half-pie lampshade, frowsy

tangerine shag                                          and a gold

Peter Jackson cigarette lighter lost in the weeds of its

luxurious hair.

The Hollywood Argyles swing on the electric wheel. Psychedelic

jumble a tab of pharmacopeia to wind up the shy.

Inside house at the end of the block a collision

of neighbours.

Jennifer Londry is the author of two books of poetry: Life and Death in Cheap Motels, which was adapted for stage, and After the Words, which was nominated for a Saskatchewan Book Award. Her third book of poetry, Tatterdemalion, appears this fall with Chaudiere Books. A featured reader at the 2009 Kingston Writers’ Festival and at the 2011 Sweetwater 905 in Northern BC, she has also facilitated and organized a literary event for Alzheimer’s Awareness. Jen has taught creative writing and recently was a judge for Words from the Street, a creative writing competition, which gives a voice to the downtrodden, in association with The Toronto Writers’ Collective. She is also a contributor to the anthologies: A Crystal through which Love Passes, Glosas for P.K. Page (Buschek Books, 2013), Where the nights Are twice As long, Love Letters of Canadian Poets (Goose Lane Editions, 2015), and has work forthcoming in the Alzheimer’s anthology, A Rewording Life, editor Diane Schoemperlen, creator Sheryl Gordon. Currently Jen is collaborating with the documentary filmmaker Sarah Turnbull at the Carleton School of Journalism and Communications to produce a mental health video.