© 2005 by Paul-William Gagnon

Why I Never Left Newfoundland

            the bear came to me, at sixteen

over the ice

during the gale  

                        while I dressed a caribou  

& caught me near the gulch ledge  

flash of white  
a paw
then―                       

                        I had bought my ferry tickets the morning
before, Cape Breton , to work the Sydney Mines.

―when I woke

            my hair, snow crusted.  

bloodynosed  
the bear, sprawled beneath me
gulchbottom  

                        necktwisted.  

            Where do you think you’re going?  

“Nowhere,” I answered  

            and everywhere  

the wind.