Plagiarism or half-intended collaboration,
The plagiarizer being the intentional half?
The CBC radio show debated and illustrated
All afternoon while monsoonal rains doused
New Brunswick. Only half an hour meant
To answer the question. The rest was
Unintentional, except to a careful listener.
"It's hearing the robber speak in the voice
Of the robbed." You could always just rob
The robbers, and then whose voice are you?
Yours. Language loots the floorboards
For the painted skulls of buried ancestors
With gold obols in their jaws, but who
Cared at the Hotel North that night
Beside the ferry to Newfoundland? Packed
Parking lot, laughter in the pub past ten,
An exceptionally chipper young woman
With a large backpack, Asian features,
And a California accent, checking in,
Offered to help the the broken man roll
His luggage on a bell cart down the hall.
The rooms smelled of the kind of funk
Only old gym rats should know, but still
Someone had strapped a paper ring around
The lid of the toilet to plagiarize the sign
That indicates, it's all friendly, it's all clean.
It's hearing the tourist in the voice
Of the toured. It's hearing the helper
In the voice of the helped. Can I help you?
No comments:
Post a Comment