Normal spring 2020

BY j tate barlow

i should eat a littlesomething 

having just foodshopped and added 

three more grocer’s plasticbags to a ballooning 

stash i had diligently deflated before fear

became the indigestible spice salting 

a palatable chore. i’d go for 

a walk now but redwhiteblue 

minivan’s below my window—snailmail  

package might have arrived. you get used to

waiting these days if you orderbooks through

the neighbourhood store. i ordered a few, 

couple of weeks back. anticipation’s

sweet. also, a sortof calm combs 

Kingston Road and sidestreets, and on 

beachwalks i note an absence: the gold band 

of pollution normally suspended above lake’s 

horizon, and tinting every inhalation— 

gone. will Normal’s rehabilitation 

restore every undyingharm?

oh lord-of-everlasting-handwashing, 

this is my solemn request for a novel song.   

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j tate barlow lives uphill from a Great Lake, moves to the music, and loves the heft of a good pen. She is the winner of the 2020 Vallum Award for Poetry. Her work has been published in Grain magazine, The New Quarterly, Vallum magazine, The Dalhousie Review, Eastern Iowa Review, and The Fieldstone Review.