Letter to a Friend

Christmas, 2001 / No. 7

The perfume of wet pavement rattles the air

enters the nostrils like a bee sting

sings of:

honeysuckle

wet dogs

ripping grass at the park

The trees limp,

under a heavy enamel of rain

the gum-tattooed cement glistens

in its own selenium-toned ooze

organic emulsion of man-made grief.

Oxygen in an urban rainforest travels

the veins like bricks, graffiti, and newspaper boxes

All this apocalypse to post a letter

which will arrive with your name

in large

bled

ink.

Susana Molinolo lives between Little India and the Beach. She is a mom, wife, writer, and editor. Her work has appeared in the Globe and Mail, the National Post, and Now, and has been broadcast on CBC Radio. She is currently the editor of Triathlete magazine and a columnist for weewelcome.ca, and is writing/editing a parenting anthology about nursing in public. Last updated summer, 2006.