Atwoodian versification

Margaret Atwood, Canadian icon, is receiving the Grand Prix award at Montreal's Blue Metropolis Literary Festival, even as I speak...um, type. She is so amazingly prolific at novel writing and at poetic production; such a clever and amusing woman, she is someone I really admire. Here is one short poem:

Habitation

Marriage is not

a house or even a tent

it is before that, and colder:

The edge of the forest, the edge

of the desert

the unpainted stairs

at the back where we squat

outside, eating popcorn

where painfully and with wonder

at having survived even

this far

we are learning to make fire.

Margaret Atwood

You can also hear Atwood reading her poetry at this poetry site.