By Nicole Findlay
This February, Ottawans climbing on the bus for the morning commute will receive a little more for their fare than mere transportation. The works of local poets will be featured inside the buses.
John Cloutier, a recent graduate from the Department of English was among 12 writers whose work was selected for the OC Transpo contest, Transpoetry.
Although he has been writing for 10 years and has 17 publications in Canadian and American magazines, he is always on the look-out for submission opportunities.
The Transpoetry project issues a yearly call for submissions from local poets. Only unpublished poems can be submitted.
For those of you who won’t have an opportunity to read Cloutier’s work on your daily commute, here is a sneak peek…
Scapulamancy
The hummingbird who normally operates the gears
inside my ribcage is gone. Shadows turn corners.
The morning bus is peopled with workers.
Heavy and slow becomes quick and strong.
The sun yawns. I see a woman’s collarbone on the bus ride home and think
about the ancient Asian art of shoulder bone divination. I stumble
hardhat in hand remembering two small beauty marks on your collar bone
and wings begin moving the gears. I put the radio on, shower,
write these words
and wonder about the oceans the other passengers have to cross.