Offical Website of
Award-winning author, essayist, journalist and poet.
A poem about how things have been recently:
DOWNRIVER
The man is turning, smiling
at you, going down river, from the bow
of a canoe. He is not smiling
as he has too often, too many times
in his life, telling too much: telling
everything. What you see is special,
because it's simply what a smile can be,
and special because this day, of such
beauty, is the end, forever lost to him:
the snow in spring, the feeling
of being out all day in such weather;
being alone on cross country skis,
and not being afraid: of the wet bark,
the wet everywhere, breath.
So he turns and looks back at you
and smiles, in a canoe, alone now,
but sharing all that was once out there
beyond the gunnels: the lovely silences,
the word Iroquois, his interest in
so much, what he loved, yes, loved.
The man who has become all fear is
smiling now, like never before, saying goodbye.
He is sailing into something like death,
O say it, downriver, never to see the wet spring
again, to be out, all day, in weather like this.
M.T. Kelly
Above: Niva, the star of the film Flame
Upcoming Toronto screening this September of Downriver, a short film based on the book. A 35mm equivalent, Downriver is best suited for the big screen.
New novel With His Father. "In the early morning on the lake sitting in the stern of the boat with his father rowing, he felt quite sure that he would never die."
New short story The Lesser Angels of our Nature. "He finally had what he wanted; there was no escape. Yet he felt anchored, like a mussel, its head glued to a rock flailing about for sustenance."
Completion of filming of Flame, film short without a fact in it, all poetry and music. A picture of the star is under the poem DOWNRIVER.
M.T. Kelly invited to read from his poetry at festivals in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Toronto.
Footage available of M.T. Kelly reading selections from DOWNRIVER. Click to watch video.
May 18: DOWNRIVER and A Dream Like Mine launched at the Dora Keogh Pub in Toronto.
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M.T. Kelly featured in Hooked On Canadian Books: The best Canadian Novels, by T.F. Rigelhof