Disembarking at Quebec - Margaret Atwood

Journal 1 1832-1840

Disembarking at Quebec
By Margaret Atwood

Is it my clothes, my way of walking,
the things I carry in my hand
- a book, a bag with knitting-
the incongruous pink of my shawl

this space cannot hear

or is it my own lack
of conviction which makes
these vistas of desolation,
long hills, the swamps, the barren sand, the glare
of sun on the bone-white
driftlogs, omens of winter,
the moon alien in day-
time a thin refusal

The others leap, shout

Freedom!

The moving water will not show me
my reflection.

The rocks ignore.

I am a word
in a foreign language.


I wanna go there some winter days, carrying my strings and bags filled with books, quilts, and a journal, just like Margaret. If I get there, would my soul got more rest without anything else?

About Margaret Atwood:
Canadian writer born in 1939: a prolific poet, novelist, literary critic, feminist, and activist.
About Quebec:
Quebec is Canada's largest province with a predominantly French-speaking population. It is bordered on the south by the US of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, an New York. Nationalism plays a large role in the politics of Quebec, and all three major provincial political parties have sought greater autonomy for Quebec and recognition of its unique status.
This city has a humid continental climate with warm, humid summers and long, cold, and snowy winters. Winters are long and among the coldest in eastern Canada.
(from Wikipedia)