Wedding
Wedding
Original Text
Carol Shields, Coming to Canada: Poems, ed.
Christopher Levenson (Ottawa: Carleton University Press,
1992): 84.
1The bride stands in white
2fullness on the church steps
3while cameras catch a mixed
4show of joy and bafflement,
5sunshine and blinked-back surprise
6at the suddenly unfurled
7afternoon of sentiment
8and also the blue fixed
9shock of hurt in her eyes
10when she looks up and sees
11storms of confetti hurled
12with such precision, such fury that
13she must freeze and ask herself what
Notes
14] what it means: confetti are "Bon-bons, or plaster or paper imitations of these, thrown during carnival in Italy; in U.K., U.S., etc., esp. little discs, etc., of coloured paper thrown at the bride and bridegroom at weddings" (OED). Carnival, a holiday of food, drink, and celebration, precedes Lent, a period of abstinence and mourning. Back to Line
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire
RPO Edition
2010
Rhyme