O Polar Bear
Polar bear, O polar bear
Ceramic and chipped from the dollar store
Tamed of fang and dull of claw
Who can frame thy fearful symmetry
What can I do with you, a gift
A lump of claw sorry for its shape
Blurred in the eye and ready for death the moment you took shape
What can I do with you, O polar bear from the dollar store
Gift from a father estranged
Bludgeon an intruder?
Weight the drifting paper trail
Of my 1/3 nomad life?
Hold open a door
stop one from swinging shut?
Tell me father what can I do with you
Doorstop that you’ve become
Lump of earth immovable
Blurred in eye chipped of tooth
Patched of fur and dull of claw?
What is love that slices so fine
that toes the line
averting its gaze from what hurts?
Polar bear, O polar bear
Ceramic and chipped from the dollar store
Tamed of fang and dull of claw
Who can frame thy fearful symmetry
What can I do with you, a gift
A lump of claw sorry for its shape
Blurred in the eye and ready for death the moment you took shape
What can I do with you, O polar bear from the dollar store
Gift from a father estranged
Bludgeon an intruder?
Weight the drifting paper trail
Of my 1/3 nomad life?
Hold open a door
stop one from swinging shut?
Tell me father what can I do with you
Doorstop that you’ve become
Lump of earth immovable
Blurred in eye chipped of tooth
Patched of fur and dull of claw?
What is love that slices so fine
that toes the line
averting its gaze from what hurts?
Natalie Meisner
Natalie Meisner is a Canadian playwright and poet. She has won the Canadian National Playwriting Competition, A
Jessie Richardson Theatre Award, been featured in the International Women’s Playwriting Conference in Athens,
Greece. She has edited the esteemed literary magazines PRISM International and Dandelion, and currently served as a
Poetry Editor for the Wascana Review. Publications include: Growing Up Salty & Other Plays, Oral Fixations, Lady Driven:
More Writing By the Seven Sisters, Grain Magazine, The Nashwak Review, Pottersfield Portfolio, The Antigonish Review and
Love Poems for the Media Age.
Jessie Richardson Theatre Award, been featured in the International Women’s Playwriting Conference in Athens,
Greece. She has edited the esteemed literary magazines PRISM International and Dandelion, and currently served as a
Poetry Editor for the Wascana Review. Publications include: Growing Up Salty & Other Plays, Oral Fixations, Lady Driven:
More Writing By the Seven Sisters, Grain Magazine, The Nashwak Review, Pottersfield Portfolio, The Antigonish Review and
Love Poems for the Media Age.
