Poetry Month 2012: Rob Rolfe - Tecumseh

Rob Rolfe was born in London, Ontario. He was a trade union leader and librarian in Toronto for many years. Rob has published two books of poetry, Saugeen (Quattro Books, 2011) and The Hawk (Quattro Books, 2008), and two poetry chapbooks with LyricalMyrical press. His poems have appeared in The Fiddlehead, Grain, Windsor Review, Our Times and many other Canadian publications. Rob was featured in The Toronto Quarterly’s – Toronto Poets 5 Questions Series last December.

The following poem is from his book, The Hawk.


Tecumseh

you are on a train
from toronto crossing
a bridge at night
over the thames river
from your seat you
look out at the passing
silhouettes of farms
or the lost record
of your own footprints
from decades before
you’re halfway there
between river and stars
dreaming of tecumseh
the train forges on
you think you know
where you are but
in your half sleep you
are a fox a crow or
think you are seeing
tecumseh in the forest
and the real blood
of the battleground

Free Counter