The Lovers
after Remedios VaroI know this couple.
rain thins on thinning bodies
Which mirror am I?
generates as steam
Or am I both?
glow from the dark well
Does my third eye see?
narrow, tunnelled
Is face the same face?
two heads, two mirrors
Inert to the caution
hands, a frozen dance
What wants them?
the growing water
What’s fed from rain?
in waves of blue scallops
What will not stop?
their feet, locked under
What orchestrates?
the soil beneath
On Seeing Control for What It Is
My paintings reach the quietcentre where opposites
congeal in my androgynous face.
You were an archetype
I once loved. A falsehood
I now put down into paint.
The winged instrument inside
my brush contains escape—
it cuts the line
from our sad, pained romance.
Enough is enough is enough.
“Painting Is Like Making Strawberry Jam”
after Remedios VaroLast night’s dream
washed the rain in the field.
The rabbit’s heartbeat
huddled in a hole.
Beneath a cloud’s
treble clef, I awoke
with strawberries
through my spine.
Photo (c) Marion Voysey
Catherine Graham’s poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, shortlisted for the Montreal International Poetry Prize and have appeared in Best Canadian Poetry and on CBC Radio. Her eighth book, Æther: An Out-of-Body Lyric, was a finalist for the Trillium Book Award, Toronto Book Award, and won the Fred Kerner Book Award. Her sixth poetry collection, The Celery Forest, was named a CBC Best Book of the Year. Put Flowers Around Us and Pretend We’re Dead: New and Selected is her ninth book. Her most recent collection, Moon Writing is a collaboration with poet/visual artist Robert Frede Kenter. Forthcoming in 2027 is a new collection of poems on the life and art of Remedios Varo.
Banner/ Art: Awoke in a Room Variations (photo vispo collages by Robert Frede Kenter) (2026)
