Tanis MacDonald (she/her) is a poet, professor, essayist, and free range literary animal. She lives as a grateful guest on traditional Haudenosaunee territory, near the Grand River in southwestern Ontario. Her book Mobile: poems was longlisted for the Toronto Book Award in 2020, and her latest book is Straggle: Adventures in Walking While Female (Wolsak and Wynn, 2022).
“‘Laker: a cento’ uses lines written by fifteen Canadian female poets in a short form cento.”
The lake is a woman no longer 1 Arleen Paré, Lake of Two Mountains
weighed down by solid oak furniture: 2 Angeline Schellenberg, Fields of Stone and Light
unmapped, led from the roughened edge of water 3 Kim Fahner, These Wings
all spillage and stickiness, full of desire. 4 Miranda Pearson, Harbour
A knot is a drunk uncle leaning in close to say 5 Ariel Gordon, Stowaways
So-so, his answer to all questions. 6 Ronna Bloom, Public Works
His stench chooses my nostrils by way of the wind; 7 Micheline Maylor, Whirr and Click
here was a wound he could believe in. 8 Claire Caldwell, Invasive Species
My blood is in a palace coup against my lungs, 9 Kateri Lanthier, Siren
a frothing death-gait, spark of hooves. 10 Lisa Richter, Nautilus and Bone
Wind claps the hands of the last leaves. 11 Yvonne Blomer, The Last Show on Earth
These are the faithful: laundry, headache, sore back, 12 Maureen Scott Harris, Slow Curve Out
something witch-like in us although we stayed. 13 Maureen Hynes, Sotto Voce
Look into the eye of the satin moth— 14 Brenda Schmidt, Grid
I’ll be the one with hair and hands, you can’t miss me. 15 Tanja Bartel, Everyone at this Party
