1999 short list:
Wild Mouse
by Derek McCormack and Chris Chambers
published by Pedlar Press
Published with permission from the author. This excerpt is copyright protected.
20th of June 1992
This year the first day of summer is the coldest on record,
Delaying the leaves and the smells that trigger memory
By the lake where no one swims.
I find myself-like a sweaty character chased by Mannix or Cannon -
In the parking lots shaded by Exhibition Stadium,
Two months early for the carnival
Cowboy Junkies warm up at Ontario Place.
Iron Maiden fans arrive in vans for the show at the Coliseum.
Q107 blasts from the hot dog stand where a blonde in a baseball cap
Gives me on half-wary glance as I wander by in a daze.
I look east at once-in-a-lifetime vista:
The skyline through one third of the Flyer.
Something is wrong with this picture:
The heaps of planks, fenced in,
The roller coaster in three pieces
--like a launch for the sun-
from a distance it looks about to be folded into itself
to be carted to another town by some multi-plated tractor-trailer.
In relief the old wood roller coaster, whitewashed every spring
Sits exposed, rotting in a parking lot.
There is a time when it is the best roller coaster,
I'm sure, but that's before my first ride.
That year they truck in higher rides.
The Polar Bear. The Wild Mouse. I remember the word Cascade.
But these arrive in pieces for a couple of weeks in August, 99 then-torn down-travel west across the 401.
The Flyer stays put.
And I stare at those three pieces of roller coaster
I imagine what will find itself inside the Flyer's fence this year-
no doubt something spectacular. No doubt something faster.
Everyone wants to go faster.
Most years there's something imperceptible about spring
turning into summer in the city.
Most years I am like Daisy Buchanan lolling on a divan in the breeze.
I feel the longest day of the year should amount to more.
Then miss it.
