The Man with the Ted Hughes Jaw
Micheline Maylor
The man in the 1977 Toyota Corolla,
mint, concours white, takes his
Ted Hughes jaw down eleventh avenue,
driver’s side window cranked down,
mint, concours white; he takes his
hang-long cigarette in between forefinger –
thumb, driver’s side window cranked down,
his big hair touched by a crazed artist’s brush
hang-long cigarette pinched in the forefingers
of Van Gogh: Wheat field with crows.
His big thumb and hair touched by the brush.
He’d be a good fuck, I think. He channels
Van Gogh’s Wheat Field with Crows.
The world knows he’s a classic, analog, a throwback.
He’d be good in bed, I think. He channels
AM dial radio, OPEC, Reaganomics, Just say no.
The world knows he’s a classic, analog, a throwback.
He’s a gleaming apparition in the pandemic,
the 80s oil crisis, OPEC, Reaganomics, Just say no.
A flare of handsome, parading through.
Here he is! Gleaming in the pandemic,
climate smoke, the virus, the cigarettes,
a one-man war parade, a flare of elegance,
daring breath itself to extinguish
climate smoke, the virus, cigarettes, the war,
an elemental spark, his rough beauty
daring breath itself to extinguish roadside
serendipities, all my past imperfect loves.
Photo: Marty Gervais
Dr. Micheline Maylor was Calgary’s Poet Laureate 2016-18. Her latest poetry collection The Bad Wife (2021) won the BPAA Robert Kroetsch Award for best poetry in Alberta. Her previous collection Little Wildheart (U of Alberta Press) was long listed for both the Pat Lowther and Raymond Souster awards. She recently won Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award for literary contributions to Alberta in 2022 and the Lois Hole Award for Editorial Excellence in Alberta. Her work has been recently translated into Farsi, Chinese, and Italian.
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