Each Blade

Happy said, “Bow-wow!
I want to play.
I want to run.
I want to run away.”
Away he ran.

Billy said, “Oh,
I want to play.
I want to run.
I want to run away.”
Away he ran.

Mother said, “Oh, my,
I want to play.
I want to run.
I want to run away.”
Away she ran.

Father said, “Oh,
I want to play.
I want to run.
I want to run away.”
Away he ran.

Nancy said, “Oh,
I want to play.
I want to run.
I want to stay because
the grass is so small
and Father cuts each blade
so beautifully.”

______________________________
The poem and picture were originally published as a serif of nottingham broadsheet in 1985. It was one of a series of pieces based on a learn to read "Dick & Jane"-type book which my mother-in-law used in school. The photo is of my wife, Beth, and her dog, Pepper on the lawn at their house in Dundas, Ontario. It dates from the late sixties. Around 1985 and for the next fifteen to twenty years, I made a series of broadsheets, chapbooks, and various ephemera for Stuart Ross and Nick Power's Meet-the-Presses and then for their Toronto Small Press Book Fair. I consider this, together with my studies at York University, to be a really important of my earlier writing life.