From Cusp/Detritus: An Experiment in Alleyways, published by Anvil Press in 2006. [Corrections have been made to this piece since its publication in Geist 64.]

From Le Journal de Montréal’s report of FB’s death

1. a quitté l’urgence de l’hôpital vers six
heures hier matin

: Yesterday morning

I was not thinking about

You, only, faltered

2. qu’il ait eté avancé, a un moment donné

: A given moment

Your Chuck Berry shoes over

The edge, black and white

3. il a fait une chute

: Taking a leap, you

Thought better of it, falling,

Or not, the air live

4. sans armes a ses cotés

: At your sides, your arms

No longer, but flailing, stilled

—A fist shooting up

5. en bas du stationnement a l’étages,
étendu sur le dos

: On your back, they told

Me there were no wounds, no blood

—Your casket opened wide

6. la corps de l’individu, au beau milieu
d’un vaste éspace de stationnement vide

: An empty lot, vast

With asphalt, your body broke

The traffic, always

7. le cadavre de l’homme

: A man’s corpse, you or

The man you saw as missing,

Sheeted for the lens