Daniela Elza and Al Rempel - unhinged

beneath a sky of cooling concrete towers, the city makes itself
heard.           rattles cages on fire escapes.       how to forget

the sirens      last night        the clatter.     half-eaten hamburger
pack of matches, the wind, and an envelope marked résumés


thrown on the parking lot.         these asphalt shadows are us
laid off. jobless.           slowly crumpling under streetlamps.


when we go inside, we duck our heads.         fold ourselves
like scissored hinges. collapse into lawn chairs by the TV.


remote-controlled.       tele-marketed.          you-tubed.
anything I swallow goes down like mercury.


crude oil blossoming in the lung.       re-de-fined
in the vandalized basement of my mind        I wait—


a long list of ingredients             a single clock ticking
the bare end of a wire hanging

 




Click here to listen to Daniela Elza reading "unhinged"

Click here to listen to Al Rempel reading "unhinged"






Daniela Elza and Al Rempel were introduced to each other in the Rocksalt Anthology (Mother Tongue Publishing 2008) but really met in the book 4 poets (Mother Tongue Publishing 2009). Since then Rempel has published his first book of poetry, understories (Caitlin Press, 2010), and a chapbook, The Picket Fence Diaries (Lipstick Press 2010). He is currently an alternate teacher in Prince George, BC. For additional information, visit: understories.blogspot.com








To date, Daniela Elza has released more than 140 poems into the wor(l)d in more than forty-two publications. She is the recipient of this year’s Pandora’s Collective Citizenship Award and lives with her family in Vancouver. For additional information, visit: strangeplaces.livingcode.org.