www.philipquinn.ca
"Writer "
(from The SubWay, a collection of poetry)
Not Yet
Born
Men wearing suspenders, woollen caps, fedoras
Bent over, using long iron bars to pry up the old surface rails
For the street cars to change direction at Danforth and Coxwell
A
second track needed to join the single track
This double tracking continued along Gerrard and Queen
Men installing track switches at Queen and Coxwell with two men balanced on
a wooden platform on top of a streetcar connecting the overhead cables
Photograph taken in September 1921
The same year my father was born
His first movements then
A
balancing, an awkward standing to see
What lurked over the horizon
These faded currencies
Men with crushed fedoras
Men with fragmented fibulas
Sewn tight in boxes just like my father now is
On
these tracks I feel the shuffle of many feet
The continuing hustle
And always a man with a shovel
Digging for something not yet born
See Angel
