I wish I could write an award-winning poem
about two raccoons fucking.

It would start with him scavenging her
dinner. Some lovely fish bones from the garbage
at Northern Thai.

Trailing bits
of mango
and peanuts
and rice
across
the tiny
one person
sidewalk
as they
small talk
their way
up the hill.

She’d be a bit nervous because they only just met
and this city has a reputation—
he’d be smooth as King Street, carefully taking
in the length of her tail as they walk.

When they hit the corner
he’d say I know somewhere
we can get fresh plums,

right off the tree.

Her pupils would widen then shrink—she’d mount him
(because in this poem feminism is sexy)
then they’d start and stop start and stop
start and stop.

Two burglar eyed lovers in the exploits
of cultural appropriation,
prolonging their climax, silhouetted in light pollution
against skeletal beams
of the new thirty-five-story
Condominium

built for Googlers.


He’d whisper one day baby we will live there,
have remunerative jobs and two point five kids,
a stimulating yet changing sex life … worthwhile friends
and she’d melt into his body, tail relaxed,

until her tiny
little paws
were shaking.

Ashley Hynd is a poet with mixed ancestry who lives on the Haldimand Tract and respects all her relations’ relationships with the land. She was consecutively longlisted for The CBC Poetry Prize (2018 & 2019), shortlisted for Arc Poem of the Year (2018), and won the Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize (2017). Her work has appeared in several publications including ARC, Room, PRISM, Grain, TNQ, Malahat, Best Small Fictions 2019 (Sonder Press), Changing the Face of Canadian Literature (Guernica Editions) and Best Canadian Poetry 2020 (Biblioasis). Her debut chapbook Entropy is available with GapRiot Press.

Founder and facilitator of Poets & Pancakes, a monthly brunch for writers run from her home, Ashley believes in building and fostering community. She sits on the editorial board for both Canthius Literary Journal & Textile KW. Her Hobbies Include trampling the patriarchy, avoiding doing the dishes and getting lost in conversations. Follow her on twitter: @ashley_hynd

Image by David Libeert @deefbelgium