Advent '89

I know Marc Lepine

                never understood

himself

                    or his family

he bore a self-inflicted

                            martyrdom

of hatred

but that’s only half the story—

                        he signed the registration

for the .223 semi

                    he failed his

courses

              his relationships

                           his military admission

and his biographer

                                   he left no other criminal record

but mostly he failed

                        Canadian men

                                       fathers

                                            uncles

                                                 husbands

                                                      lovers

                                                           friends

his steel larynx

                          pierced

skulls

              hearts

                           spleens

and the curtain of

                           silence

between the sexes

                     and now the drum-roll

drones

                  to dialogue  

                                     and tears

as Advent advances

                   from sea to sea.

                                                           (1989)