20: SUBMERGED

David W. McFadden: Akwesasne Lightning

An elephant more mammoth than a mammoth
(But hairless and with skin that's serpent smooth
Shining like patent leather) has been brought
Into tow in a boarded-up box car.
People are strangely spooked and stay away.
I happen to be station superintendent
So I ask to have a chat with the handlers.

Four painted Ramakrishnas squat in loincloths,
One at each foot of the luminous beast.
They all from Owen Sound, Ontario.
They greatly admire the poet bpNichol.
Each recites his favourite line or two.
But most of their time's spent praying, fasting,
And playing lacrosse for Akwesasne Lightning.

"I tore up all the other letters today tho there is one smart kid called Dave McFadden who says: 'Now when Spring comes along, as does every year, she drabs my melting heart with her warm lily-fragrant message: of the budding eucalypti on the Riviere du Loup highway, and the greening of the grass' ... ach I can't type it, but its good. So long."
-JACK KEROUAC, FROM A LETTER TO ALLEN GINSBERG, JANUARY 4, 1960

This poem is taken from Five Star Planet (Talonbooks, 2002).