Sunday Morning in Canada
By all accounts he was a thoroughly
Unpleasant man. His wife divorced him and
His children held him in contempt. Once he
Got ill his son would finally shake his hand.
On Sunday doctors then will coalesce
And grant the man his sorry fate,
While those around him mourn far less
Than mourn they should their nation-state.
Jeffrey Essmann is an essayist and poet living in New York. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and literary journals, among them Agape Review, America Magazine, Dappled Things, the St. Austin Review, U.S. Catholic, Grand Little Things, Heart of Flesh Literary Journal, and various venues of the Benedictine monastery with which he is an oblate. He is editor of the Catholic Poetry Room page on the Integrated Catholic Life website.
You are so right about mourning their nation-state!
Very tragic and relevant Jeffrey.
Canada needs more hope and fewer maids.
Jeffrey, this poem says so much in its brevity. It has a quiet cruelty about it. The “Sunday doctors” playing God gave me chills… and that punch-in-the-gut close – people putting the love of their country and those killing in its name before the very real relatives in front of them cuts deeply . A powerful and a haunting poem that says it all. Jeffrey, thank you!
Great poem on a thoroughly horrifying topic, very impressive!
A really good poem on a very sad subject. I am so disillusioned with the Canada that I used to be so proud of. Not any more.
Just a question (silly, perhaps) — does the title of this poem constitute any kind of allusion to the longer poem “Sunday Morning” by Wallace Stevens?
The brevity of the poem, Jeffrey, suggests brief consideration given by anyone to the “unpleasant man” and his “sorry fate.” No specifics about disease or desire imply that unpleasantness may be the principal consideration on Sunday morning.
Powerful and poignant. I hope that Canadians find the will and the way to rise from the dark place into which their country has descended.
No kidding. Canada, like the UK, is lost.