Personal. (Poetry).

Personal

Attractive single black female.
Ottawa area, 5'6", mid 30s,
financially independent,
with strong Christian values,
looking for a classy, educated,
serious, and financially secure
professional male with high aspirations,
mid 30s - early 40s, for long-term
relationship & possibly marriage
(race unimportant).
   The Globe & Mail, February 7, 1998

  We used your plump Bible for our pillow,
And spiced the Song of Solomon with Sade.
You drew me red wine and a drunken bath;
Lingeried, we lounged in languorous sheets,
Under that L.A. nun's gaudy pop art
Gyring orange, green, violet, crayon hearts,
Advertising, "I luv you very much,"
And christened, stylish as you, "Corita."
So we never lucifered our leanings,
Though I was rampant, and you were slanting
To pant enmity against your mother.
We could have acted Chagall's The Wedding;
But you staged D6gas's Dancer. So I played
Munch's Scream, howling down fifteen, harsh years
Through bachelor lechery, wedding-vow
Coma, a hacked-up estate, cashed-in bonds,
And suicidal brute, loveless struggles
Parce que j'ai voulu te deviarger,
Mon agace-pissette. But you escorted
Architects, attorneys, and assassins.
  I remember huit-trois-sept, avenue
Rochette, Saint-Foy, Vile de Quebec (Quebec),

Dr. George Elliott Clarke (Nova Scotia) is a well known African-Canadian poet, playwright and anthologist, and current Seagram's Visiting Chair at McGill University. He has written several plays, published a number of poetry books and won numerous awards for his writing. In 1998 he received the Portia White Award, one of Nova Scotia's top honors for his contribution to the cultural life of Nova Scotia and the Canadian community; His works have been adapted for radio and stage. George Elliott Clarke is assistant professor of English and Canadian Studies at Duke University. His latest work, Beatrice Chancy (Polestar), will be released this spring.