(Ryerson dj, 1964, GG winner)
Raymond (Holmes) Souster (1921-2012) was born and lived in Toronto, and was employed by CIBC. Initially, he worked with Irving Layton and Louis Dudek, editing the legendary Contact (1952-1954) and Combustion (1957-1960) magazines. Writing about ordinary city folks and situations, Souster displayed a realistic acceptance of one and all. His best-known poem, “The Man Who Finds That His Son has Become a Thief”, was in both eds. of my Inside Poetry.
…………………………………….
The World Stopped
A poem by Raymond Souster
I was reading on the first
28 plus day of May
on the patio
savouring the axe fall
on rocks in stanza 3
when a small ant arrived
on p. 66.
I flicked him
as I had done others
of his ilk toward
the edge but
he smeared brownly
like an Andrew Wyeth
brushstroke
forever spoiling
my book and the purity
of my read.
I tried the white eraser
of hope on the stain
but he was still there
now a perpetual part of
“The World Stopped”.
Souster himself had the last word–
“The world resumed again”
though I have me dou’ts.
-R.D.