poetry festivalDr. William Henry Drummond Poetry Contest 2015
Third Place: Those Three Islands by Alexandra Gilbert
Those three islands set deep in Papineau Bay:
one small, a few trees, mossy caverns
dug by waves; the second smaller, one cedar
leaning, roots grasping at granite, speckled grey;
the third tiny, barely a stump, some ferns
in mid-summer. We would paddle there,
take turns standing on the largest one, pretend
to hide behind the thin, curved trunks, while
the canoe bobbed in shallow water. Years
later, if I had known how things would change:
you would move west; trips home would depend
on vacation pay, flight delays… and while
I was away, exploring other atmospheres,
the lake would rise, drown the islands: our terrain.