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A Weird Part of Whatever --with Alphild Yuill

A Weird Part of Whatever --with Alphild Yuill

by Dale Tracy

Did we skip a day? Did something happen
to take a whole day away? Yes,
something happened. What?
We've arrived at a weird part of whatever,
where it’s eerie, like something came in with us.
We live differently, not because it's in here,
but to keep it away. When someone is sick,
we have to ask, is it just herself that is sick,
or did something come in here?
It’s like a dream, or something you just thought of.
It's all the little things that mean something to people.
It's almost like a curtain
has been pulled and it’s a different world.
A curtain has been pulled, but I can’t see the curtain.

About this Poem

"This poem, a collaboration with Alphild Yuill, my grandmother, started some months before her 94th birthday in the spring of 2020. Struck by her way of talking about her experience of the pandemic in her retirement home, I jotted down her thoughts over several weeks of phone calls.

The poem's words are all hers; I selected and arranged the lines. She gave me her permission to make her words into a poem."

Dale Tracy is the author of the chapbook The Mystery of Ornament (above/ground press, 2020), the chapbook Celebration Machine (Proper Tales Press, 2018), the chappoem What It Satisfies (Puddles of Sky Press, 2016), and the monograph With the Witnesses: Poetry, Compassion, and Claimed Experience (McGill-Queen’s, 2017).She received an honourable mention in Kalamalka Press’s 2019 John Lent Poetry/Prose Chapbook Award contest, and her poetry has appeared or is appearing in publications like filling Station, Touch the Donkey, The Week Shall Inherit the Verse, Dusie, Chaudiere, and The Goose: A Journal of Arts, Environment, and Culture in Canada    

About the Poetry Blackboard

The Poetry Blackboard showcases poems curated by Kingston's Poet Laureate and written by Kingston poets. There's a new poem every month, written by poets living and dead, historical and contemporary, published and unpublished, adults and children, giving full range to the cultural voice of Kingston. Started in 2015 by Helen Humphreys, the Poetry Blackboard has been continued since 2019 by Jason Heroux.

We wish to thank Helen Humphreys, Kingston's second Poet Laureate, for her generous support of emerging and established poets in Kingston through library programming and our Poetry Blackboard project. Throughout her four years as Poet Laureate, Helen curated a digital collection of poetry to showcase the talents of local creators of all ages, both historic and contemporary. Helen also offered several opportunities for emerging poets to develop their craft, offering group workshops and one-on-one mentorship. Her active engagement with the library and community has been greatly appreciated.

In 2019 we welcomed the incoming Poet Laureate, Jason Heroux, who continues to curate the Poetry Blackboard and to develop new community programming.

Previously Published Poems