The Tall Lighthouse
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Pierre Ringwald

Pierre Ringwald was born in Edmonton in Western Canada in 1971, but spent over 20 years in Ottawa where he was an active member of the local arts community as a drummer, DJ & performance poet. Pierre relocated to London in the summer of 2001, accepting a teaching post in the English department of St. Gregory's RC Science College in Brent. His debut collection a world of sudden claws was PBS pamphlet choice Spring 2006. When he isn't teaching, Pierre divides his time between writing, performing, DJ-ing & procrastinating. He misses snow.

publications:
a world of sudden claws

 

a pair of jeans from a world of sudden claws


hooked across the length of a hanger
its question mark resting precariously
over the top of an open door.

These jeans are dried-stiff
faded thigh to knee
frayed slightly round the cuffs

they've been
wash 'n worn
wash 'n worn
wash 'n worn

til they've
worn out
past another patch up
cover up
               a prayer.

For some time it has only been
a matter of habit
a momentary lapse in the laws of physics
which has kept them together at the seams

& still, the wearer's unwillingness
to let them go persists

as if to part with them would be
a little betrayal
a little death

& so they remain

swept into a corner heap
in a sun-lit saturday-midday
bedroom scene
where dust motes are playing at angels
while the wearer lies fast asleep.