Electroplating the Dead

 The weight disappears as your body 
slips into the water. To plate an object
with metal, use that object as cathode,
—typecast by your negative attitude — 
and as anode, a solid bar of the metal.

            I ponder alloys and elements: 
            silverplate needs constant polish; 
            gilding your memory would cost 
            more than any body’s worth; I opt 
            for brass — that’s all you deserve. 

I turn on the current. Positive ions 
rush to recover what memory hasn’t lost. 

You return measure for measure: I strain 
my back removing your heavier remains 
from the glass cauldron. I’ll even the score: 
your silly little wingèd friend Amor, 
gripping the fist that grips the bow, 
will serve his turn as a cathode post. 

A suitable use for such a fine pair? 
I’d imagined turning you into bookends, 
but what slender shelf supports the dead? 
My mind forms a maze of shrubs whose centre 
you’ll adorn—as lawn ornaments—where 
time will change you to verdigris, and I 
can pick away at your green flakes. 
 
 

an excerpt from How We Negotiate
Copyright © 1999,  Maxianne Berger 

Born in Toronto in 1949, Maxianne Berger has lived in Montreal since before her first birthday. A clinical audiologist for over twenty-five years, Berger obtained her M.Sc. (Appl.) in audiology from McGill University in 1973, and has worked at the Montreal General Hospital since 1985 — assessing hearing loss and related disorders, and counselling hearing-impaired adults and their families. She also teaches lipreading for CHIP (Communicaid for Hearing-Impaired Persons). She was a faculty lecturer at McGill University’s School of Communication Sciences and Disorders for fifteen years and maintains her association with the school as a practicum supervisor. She also serves as a professional inspector in audiology for the Ordre des orthophonistes et audiologistes du Québec.

Berger also holds an M.A. in English Literature from Concordia University (1996). Her poetry and fiction have appeared in such anthologies as The Rhino Poet: A Festschrift in Honor of John Gilgun (Pecan Grove Press, 1999), The Muse Strikes Back (Story Line Press, 1997), Moosehead Anthology (Livres DC Books, 1997), and The Buda Books Poetry Series Montreal 85-86 (Montreal Poetry Co-operative, 1986). She has also reviewed poetry collections and literary magazines for Small Press Review (U.S.A.).

An avid duplicate bridge player since her early twenties, Berger became a Life Master within the American Contract Bridge League in 1988. Her first published poem — a light-verse account of a bridge hand, written in heroic couplets — appeared in the British magazine, International Popular Bridge Monthly.
 

Links

Translation of Annie Molin Vasseur's poem "Mémoires océanes"About

http://www.poets.ca/linktext/direct/berger.htm"Mouth to Mouth" (poem)

 "Sun Through the Blinds (Haiku Anthology)

"Exposure" (poem)

"Childless at the Shoestore" (poem)

The Infinity Sessions by T.R. Hummer (review)

Canoë Portrait