29 January 2025

The NS Poem: Catalogues, Various

A new poem by Josephine Balmer.

For months they would arrive at his door
like persistent detectives or debt-collectors:
discount books, clothes, copies of Esquire;
tours abroad (his passport had long expired).

We’d cream off those that caught the eye:
Saga River Cruises, Great Rail Journeys –
the last big trip you think will heal or change.
In my dream travels I’m back to the end

masked again as if I planned a heist on death.
My father is still sitting up, still able to talk.
He slings me a brochure for The Far, Far North
slippery as verglas. See, he says, I’ve already left.

Josephine Balmer’s most recent collection is “Ghost Passage” (Shearsman, 2022). Her “Selected Poems” is forthcoming