This is the poem I read to Winnipeg City Council this morning, in response to the League of Canadian Poet’s National Poetry Month Mayor’s Poetry Challenge. Twenty city councils across Canada had a poem read before a city council meeting in March or April. Winnipeg participated for the first time, as did Dauphin.
THE BREAKFAST TABLE
The light has changed
this Winnipeg morning. The sun
shimmers before our children
wrestle down the stairs
with their belongings.
The coffee grinder grinds
up the remaining dark
fragrant beans from De Luca’s.
The smell of coffee
fills the kitchen.
My wife appears in her white robe
but there will be no hurricanes today.
My knife blade catches the sun
slicing orange cartwheels.
The boys ask for eggs, for omelets
I have to break a few.
As they set the table
their sister yells, from her booster seat:
Move me. Move me closer!
Her brothers push her
up to her place, it’s her turn
at the head of the table.
Our Lenore Street kitchen sizzles
as we join hands.
– Victor Enns 2005, from Lucky Man
Check out this omelet link when you have a minute. I was unsuccessful in my hyperlink attempts.
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/01/31/lets-get-cracking-how-to-make-an-omelet/