Montreal Harbour, 2010

Photo by Simon Abrams on Unsplash

a mother pushing a stroller whose legs

& sparkling stilettos

have bled into every memory I have of this city

I saw the “lady of the harbour”

& wept & worshiped in equal measure

that tent betrays a circus

which never truly left

so many people out

wandering

on a brutally hot day in May

where the beer & the beer

only just makes a dent

in cooling you down

my friend & I

we get into the paddle boat

& we drift into the heat & shadows

rather than each other's arms

as we would do later somewhere much colder

much more unforgiving.

J.D. Harms 2019