Plenty (by Kevin Connolly)

Griffin Prize for Excellence In Poetry, The (2001 - 0)

1The sky, lit up like a question or

2an applause meter, is beautiful

3like everything else today: the leaves

4in the gutters, salt stains on shoes,

5the girl at the IGA who looks just like

6Julie Delpy, but you don’t tell her--

7she’s too young to get the reference and

8coming from you it’ll just seem creepy.

9So much beauty today you can’t find

10room for it, closets already filled

11with beautiful trees and smells and

12glances and clever turns of phrase.

13Behind the sky there’s a storm

14On the way, which, with your luck,

15will be a beautiful storm--dark

16clouds beautiful as they arguably are,

17the rain beautiful as it always is –

18even lightning can be beautiful in a

19scary kind of way (there’s a word

20for that, but let’s forget it for the moment).

21And maybe the sun will hang in long

22enough to light up a few raindrops--

23like jewels or glass or those bright beads

24girls put between the letters on the

25bracelets that spell out their beautiful names--

26Skye or Miranda or Verandah--which isn’t

27even a name, although it is a word

28we use to call things what they are,

29and would be a pleasant place to sit

30and watch the beautiful sky, beautiful

31storm, the people with their beautiful

32names walking toward the lake

33in lovely clothing saying unpleasant

34things over the phone about the people

35they work with, all of it just adding to the

36mother lode, the surfeit of beauty,

37which on this day is just a fancy way

38of saying lots, too much, skidloads, plenty.

Publication Notes

Kevin Connolly, Revolver (Toronto: House of Anansi Press, 2008). This poem is reproduced on the Griffin Prize Web Site (from a volume on the 2009 Shortlist).

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2011