there is a candle, on the kitchen table with your name on it
and a note telling you when I’ll be back
I’ll leave
that little light on over the stove
when I go
~ Paulette Dubé
Paulette Dubé’s been on this planet for 45 years. She has been publishing poetry and prose for almost half that time. If she has anything to say, it is this: accept that miracles abound everyday as the hummingbird who stops at the kitchen window to make sure you are working and the coyote laughter when you’re not. All exists to guide and inspire you. Talon, her first novel, made the short lists in 2003 for the Alberta Writers’ Guild Best Novel Award and the Starburst Award. Her poetry garnered a number of rewards. Most recently, First Mountain, made the short list for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award, (2008). The poems featured in this anthology and on blue skies poetry are from the collection Gaits that will be released by Thistledown Press in March of 2010.
“Home means somewhere, there is a light on over the stove in the kitchen and someone worries until I get back. In that same vein – it is a place where the land reacts to you because you belong.”
Editor’s note: This poem is from Home and Away – a sequel to the bestselling Writing the Land (2007). Look for one poet to be featured each day as Alberta poets ponder the question “what is home?” and explore our complex relationship with working on, living with, exploiting and protecting our land and our home. For more information about the project, click here.
