Sport 27: Spring 2001
Canada
Canada
People ask me where I'm from
and I try to feel neither flattered nor insulted
when they always guess
Canada
So I tell them
I am from the first breath of the Yellow Emperor
from the furthest corner of a smile
from the missing tooth of a broken saw in a wooden shed in a
thunderstorm
from the difference between apostrophe s and s apostrophe
from the squeal of a penny sacrificed to the locomotive for not
being a quarter
from the anxiety of waiting for a bus that may have just passed
from the ringing of a pail of warm frothy milk when it clangs
against a rusty nail
from the moment the pilot turns off the fasten seatbelts sign
I am from the growl of my wolf ready to lunge
the next time
anyone
asks
if I
am from Canada