The spring Vancouver sang “Something’s Happening
Here,” something happened over there.It’s still happening.
The prince and princess opened
65 pavilions, a highway
of stalled vehicles, an alabaster statue
behind glass. The city had arrived.
. . .
Gorbachenko suffered a radiation burn on his back where Sashenok’s hand was
located when he helped carry him out.Vomiting and losing
consciousness. Pins and needles,
a taste of metal.
. . .
41 international + 7 provincial + 2 territorial + 3 state + 9 corporate + 2 theme + 1
special (treasures from the life of a pharaoh).
. . .
Just before it happened and before
it opened, Gram died
and there were sandwiches.
A new haircut she wouldn’t see.
. . .
Scavengers strip all metals.
Visitors ditch protective garments
at set intervals.
More horses than ever.On Google Earth, a place of rivers.
. . .
She’d have remembered when they found
another pharaoh’s tomb. (The curse
of the mosquito, wonderful things.)Though she didn’t know she’d be gone
before Expo opened, she hadn’t planned to go.
Too many steps to get there
though just three kilometres
if one could fly.
. . .
The man with the hand on his back.
The glass roof, fallen in instalments.
Her kitchen print of Jesus.
The shut-up air that held the meddled relics.
The land plaza, the air plaza.
Near her ear, that purple spot.
Kaput.
. . .
But: the geodesic dome.
A child’s hair in a drain.
The book beside the bed.
Some benches, now perched near beaches.
A classroom floor through which a tree.
What the looters left.
The bookmark in the book beside the bed.
Cards for future birthdays.
. . .
The place on East 4th lives there still,
made new. (Almost but not quite a street
you can go down onscreen. The time
of the cherry blossoms.) Of the cybercafé
on the corner, she would recognize the brick.
. . .
Her death, the last turn
of the turnstiles, not disasters.In Kiev, they held the May parade
but no children of the government
went out that day.Five years later, the princess
visited Chernobyl’s children, listened,
stroked their cancers. Click here to see her
lean her head into her hands. Even thinner
than at Expo. Listen
to the shutters.
. . .
Twenties set aside inside
a granddaughter card in one of many drawers,
enough for an ankh, Egyptian symbol
of eternal life. Sixteen, trying on irony
or was it hope.
. . .
As for the #4 reactor . . . , we estimate it will be 20,000 years before the real estate
will be fully safe.
Real estate?
Only the old were allowed back.
. . .
Her house brought in thousands less than Asking.
The adjoining lot, with dandelions,
next to nothing.It all started after Expo
they say. Then the skyline
filled with cranes.
. . .
Her last steps up the steps.
Back from dinner for her 87thNo, she was not in bed,
she had gotten up,
the bathroom was a small room, hardly
large enough to fall,
though she must have.The heart of course.
. . .
What happened over there clicks up through the trunks, the blades of grass.
Swallows with cataracts nest in the sarcophagus.
. . .
Where it happened, a whole
new city. They had to clean
the soil first, before they built
the glass towers.
. . .
Someone on Facebook has her name.
. . .
The lone and level sands.
Italicized material from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
- 115: SPACE
with A Sometimes
114: NO THEME 13
with J Toledo & C Tse
113: INVISIBLE WALLS
with A Walker & D Disney
112: TREAT
with T Dearborn
111: BABY
with S Deo & L Ferney
110: POP!
with Z Frost & B Jessen
109: NO THEME 12
with C Maling & N Rhook
108: DEDICATION
with L Patterson & L Garcia-Dolnik
107: LIMINAL
with B Li
106: OPEN
with C Lowe & J Langdon
105: NO THEME 11
with E Grills & E Stewart
104: KIN
with E Shiosaki
103: AMBLE
with E Gomez and S Gory
102: GAME
with R Green and J Maxwell
101: NO THEME 10
with J Kinsella and J Leanne
100: BROWNFACE
with W S Dunn
99: SINGAPORE
with J Ip and A Pang
97 & 98: PROPAGANDA
with M Breeze and S Groth
96: NO THEME IX
with M Gill and J Thayil
95: EARTH
with M Takolander
94: BAYT
with Z Hashem Beck
93: PEACH
with L Van, G Mouratidis, L Toong
92: NO THEME VIII
with C Gaskin
91: MONSTER
with N Curnow
90: AFRICAN DIASPORA
with S Umar
89: DOMESTIC
with N Harkin
88: TRANSQUEER
with S Barnes and Q Eades
87: DIFFICULT
with O Schwartz & H Isemonger
86: NO THEME VII
with L Gorton
85: PHILIPPINES
with Mookie L and S Lua
84: SUBURBIA
with L Brown and N O'Reilly
83: MATHEMATICS
with F Hile
82: LAND
with J Stuart and J Gibian
81: NEW CARIBBEAN
with V Lucien
80: NO THEME VI
with J Beveridge
57.1: EKPHRASTIC
with C Atherton and P Hetherington
57: CONFESSION
with K Glastonbury
56: EXPLODE
with D Disney
55.1: DALIT / INDIGENOUS
with M Chakraborty and K MacCarter
55: FUTURE MACHINES
with Bella Li
54: NO THEME V
with F Wright and O Sakr
53.0: THE END
with P Brown
52.0: TOIL
with C Jenkins
51.1: UMAMI
with L Davies and Lifted Brow
51.0: TRANSTASMAN
with B Cassidy
50.0: NO THEME IV
with J Tranter
49.1: A BRITISH / IRISH
with M Hall and S Seita
49.0: OBSOLETE
with T Ryan
48.1: CANADA
with K MacCarter and S Rhodes
48.0: CONSTRAINT
with C Wakeling
47.0: COLLABORATION
with L Armand and H Lambert
46.1: MELBOURNE
with M Farrell
46.0: NO THEME III
with F Plunkett
45.0: SILENCE
with J Owen
44.0: GONDWANALAND
with D Motion
43.1: PUMPKIN
with K MacCarter
43.0: MASQUE
with A Vickery
42.0: NO THEME II
with G Ryan
41.1: RATBAGGERY
with D Hose
41.0: TRANSPACIFIC
with J Rowe and M Nardone
40.1: INDONESIA
with K MacCarter
40.0: INTERLOCUTOR
with L Hart
39.1: GIBBERBIRD
with S Gory
39.0: JACKPOT!
with S Wagan Watson
38.0: SYDNEY
with A Lorange
37.1: NEBRASKA
with S Whalen
37.0: NO THEME!
with A Wearne
36.0: ELECTRONICA
with J Jones