Poems by Alden Nowlan

All Poems Original Poems Translations

A Poem About Miracles

Why don't the records go blank

the instant the singer dies?

Oh, I know there are explanations

but they don't convince me

I'm still surprised

When I hear the dead singing

As for orchestra's

I expect the Instruments

177

by Alden Nowlan

The Bull Moose

Down from the purple mist of trees on the mountain,

lurching through forests of white spruce and cedar,

stumbling through tamarack swamps,

came the bull moose

to be stopped at last by a pole-fenced pasture.

Too tired to turn or, perhaps, aware

there was no place left to go, he stood with the cattle.

They, scenting the musk of death, seeing his great head

126

by Alden Nowlan

Broadcaster's Poem

I used to broadcast at night

alone in a radio station

but I was never good at it

partly because my voice wasn't right

but mostly because my peculiar

metaphysical stupidity

made it impossible

for me to keep believing

217

by Alden Nowlan

The Anatomy of Angels

Angels inhabit love songs. But they’re sprites

not seraphim. The angel that up-ended

Jacob had sturdy calves, moist hairy armpits,

stout loins to serve the god whom she befriended,

and was adept at wrestling. She wore

a cobra like a girdle. Yet his bone

mending he spent some several tedious weeks

marking the bed they’d shared, with a great stone.

143

by Alden Nowlan

The Mysterious Naked Man

A mysterious naked man has been reported

on Cranston Avenue. The police are performing

the usual ceremonies with coloured lights and sirens.

Almost everyone is outdoors and strangers are conversing

excitedly

as they do during disasters when their involvement is

peripheral.

'What did he look like?' the lieutenant is asking.

151

by Alden Nowlan