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Purity of Absence
Purity of Absence
poems by
Dave Margoshes
Porcepic Books
an imprint of
Beach Holme Publishing
Vancouver
Copyright © 2001 by Dave Margoshes
First Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from CANCOPY (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), Toronto, Ontario.
This book is published by Beach Holme Publishing, 226-2040 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 2G2. www.beachholme.bc.ca. This is a Porcepic Book.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and of the British Columbia Arts Council. The publisher also acknowledges the financial assistance received from the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for its publishing activities.
Editor: Michael Carroll
Production and Design: Jen Hamilton
Cover Art: Red Hue Moon by Christine Lynn, acrylic on canvas, copyright © 2000.
Licence granted by Canadian Artists Representation Copyright Collective.
Author Photograph: Myek O’Shea
Printed and bound in Canada by Marc Veilleux Imprimeur
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Margoshes, Dave, 1941-
Purity of absence
Poems.
“A Porcepic book. ”
ISBN 0-88878-419-8
I. Title.
PS8576.A647P87 2001 C811’.54 C2001-910123-6
PR9199.3.M354P87 2001
For Ilya, as always
Contents
Game 6, World Series, Bottom of the 10th, 2 Outs
The Marriage Bed
The Sound of My Voice
Silver Anniversary
By Canoe to Loon Lake
Going South for the Winter
Thirty-Five Below
The Door
Taking Heart
Smoke
Learning to Breathe
Breaking the Silence
The Marriage Bed
Saskatoons
Uncharted
Anatomy
Snow
The Waking
Okanagan
Distances
Purity of Absence
A New Nightgown
The Recorder
A Bird in the House
The Satisfaction of Knowing
The Satisfaction of Knowing
Old Wives’ Tales
Astrophysics
After Winnipeg
The Radio
Adam’s Rib
The World by the Tail
Bronx Cheer
The Porcupine
A Painting of Elvis
The Dark
Deer, Bowen Island
Thicker Than Water
On the Beach