National Honour · August 2026
🇨🇦
Casey Shelley
🇨🇦 Canada · leading poet of the nation's field
“Quickening”
70out of 100
Two little lines
make you mine:
already, running
out of time.
Pink or blue
who are you?
A million second-hand
shoes try to make it true.
Not a mother
then, a flutter.
No sign of red:
full speed ahead.
It’s one last chance or
cancelled plans. It’s
dark, quiet rooms:
all eyes on you.
Balloons, ribbons, and bows:
a model posing for the show.
Showered by a sea of should,
just like her I wish I could.
Minutes fly, it’s
time to go:
together, trekked
the rugged road.
Fluorescent lights and
one last push:
a love straight from
a storybook.
From the judges
A nimble, emotionally honest pregnancy sequence with inventive shorthand imagery, slightly let down by a conventional ending and uneven rhythm.
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Casey Shelley retains all rights · published with the poet's byline as a National Honour
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