Julian Jason Haladyn


Architectural Anomalies (or Why I Got Lost in the Gaspe Peninsula)

Organizing a field trip is a lot like trying to get people to give you recipes
                that they have never bothered to write down
                that are carved into the walls of a lost building

I remember taking the bus to the Gaspe Peninsula
I remember sitting and writing poetry with André Breton
I remember him playing with tarot cards
I do not remember the nights of eventlessness
I do not remember the war in 1944
I do not remember why I got lost on the way to the bathroom

Bored—wondering if I was doing something wrong
A week later my parents found me hiding
                in a clothing rack at the local department store
                in a portable teahouse on Mont-Saint-Pierre
                in a tacky suit that I found in my Grandparents closet

Home had no meaning when I returned
Home literally had           no translation
                                                 no context
                                                 no language to speak of

But it was the only concretization of being
How did this almost happen


Lake Lake

much of the days now are unmailed postcards
stacked neatly in piles by the side of the lake

broken boats wander with purpose on the cold waters
through back roads that lead to forgotten parties

streams cause aquatic labyrinths to awaken early
splashed by the cold waters of the lake


Intaglio Landscape 2.3 x 2.2 (Black Tea)

The paper was almost unrecognizable
black ink conquering the white surface
                         of ancient Rome
                         of my rented bathroom

the columns are hard lined
and even a little messy

smudged in the hasty moments
                          of sexual encounters in a hotel room
                          of falling empires in history

I drank my tea
as black as ink

and waited for my moment to ask

ancient ruins surrounded by a sublime landscape
the surface of Rome covered
                          with bodies imprinted on paper
                          with the mistakes of printmakers



Julian Jason Haladyn is a Canadian artist and writer. His poems have appeared in, among others, Ditch, Elimae, Istanbul Literature Review, Identity Theory, Laika Poetry Review, Otoliths, and Nthposition, as well as the collection Nuit Blanche: Poetry for Late Nights (Toronto: Royal Sarcophagus Society Press, 2007). His poetry book 17/13 was published by Blue Medium in 2007 and his chapbook Convulsive Hotel Dreams was published by Trainwreck Press in 2008. In addition, Julian has published collaborative critical articles and reviews with Miriam Jordan in Parachute, Broken Pencil, C Magazine, On Site Review, and a chapter in Stanley Kubrick: Essays on His Films and Legacy (McFarland and Company 2007).


 
 
 
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