An Invitation to Niagara Falls by Irina Moga

I — Experiment

The mushrooming sound of waters, spores, and eddies oozing up towards the fog — an insolence
that defines us.
We are mired in the gurgling of the falls.
Nothing speaks of the evening
yet we appear to be in the midst of its hyphae.

moga
The Cover of Moga’s Sea Glass Circe, the collection from which this poem was taken

II — Granite

Rocks — granite and dark quartz, glitter in the riverbed.
Water randomly concludes harmonics of the second order:
grass plotting a poisoning
in the straits of the narrowing waterway.

III — Inside the Barrel and Across the Falls

Padded with gills,
the blowball of the water
speeds past us enmeshed in fuzzy tendrils.
A falsehood of colors reflects
the one-size-fits-all roar of the river,
its course shaping a
a finer, more irregular death of its meaning.

Source: The author, 2021. First published in Moga, Irina. Sea Glass Circe. Leaside Books, 2019

Author’s Bio:
Irina Moga is a Romanian-born Canadian poet, author of five poetry books, and a member of the Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC).

“Sea Glass Circe,” her fourth book, was selected for an official launch as part of the 2020 Toronto LitUp!, Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA).

A collection of poems written in French, “Variations sans palais,” was published with Éditions L’Harmattan (France) in 2020.

Irina’s work has appeared in literary magazines in Canada and the US, such as: “Canadian Literature,” “carte-blanche,” “Cloud Lake Literary,” “PRISM International” online, and “Poetry Quarterly.”

Irina Moga’s website can be accessed by clicking here

Untitled Limerick by Robert Stek

stek
The Taj Mahal in Agra, India. Photo by Darsh Nishar

I marvel at the falls in Niagara,
More astounding than the treasure of Agra.
But could the falls be suspended,
Or even up-ended,
With a massive dose of Viagra?

Robert Stek was the second place winner in the Bootmakers  of Toronto second limericks contest , 2017

Stek is from Magnolia, Delaware

Russell Street by Cole McInerney

russell
The Europa Hotel in Downtown Niagara Falls. Photo by Cole McInerney


And the street held silence for two strangers who didn’t have to stay that way.
We stood silent below lamplight in the magnetic time. 

Your suburban home stood parched in the dark and didn’t know me well.
Your mother stood at the northern window and pretended to be passing by.
The ten o’clock fireworks stood above the hotels and were heard in a tired sky.
Your roof stood parallel to that forgiving horizon. 

Your car stood locking and unlocking as we collided.
We stood silent across from fire station number three then went around your block again.
And in that silence we don’t celebrate the ending we just end up walking other ways. 

 

Source: The author, 2021

Russell Street was first published in The Continuist, May 10, 2020

Cole McInerney is a poet from Niagara Falls, Ontario. He studied English at Toronto Metropolitan University. Currently, he is a MFA student at the University of South Carolina, studying poetry. His poems have been published in several print and online publications, including Feral Poetry, White Wall Review, The Bookends Review, and Echolocation Magazine.

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See all of Cole McInerney’s poems on the Niagara Falls Poetry Project website:

•     The Buildings of the Dream
•     Convenient Corner
•     Lake Erie
•     Russell Street

 

The Buildings of the Dream by Cole McInerney

mcinerney
Electric Power Transmission Corridor. Photo by Cole McInerney

The Riall Heights Plaza was a refuge in all weather 

You come
through the door,
yelling about the Republican Party
and the pandemic response,
high on speed.
Magnifying the voices
of breathless men
who score the TV.
Winning in the poll,
losing as I leave.

Racing the sparkling,
champagne SUVs
which pour down the street.
Asking for a truce
once they take the lead.
Passing a string of houses
with front yard pesticides
and driveway gates.
The kid sleeping inside,
born with a royal name.

Settling at the commercial plaza
which shelters a bar,
campaign office,
and other businesses;
which end and begin to end again.
Beneath the desperate cover
of a patio umbrella,
I find a childhood friend.
just as the rain collapses
on the peeling parking lot.

We talk about holidays,
the pitcher pricing,
and attempting to forget
every lie we’ve told,
as we create the next.
The rain moves on
in a moment of disbelief.
Likely toward downtown.
Standing to walk home, he says
you better not fucking die.

Source: The author, 2021

Cole McInerney is a poet from Niagara Falls, Ontario. He studied English at Toronto Metropolitan University. Currently, he is a MFA student at the University of South Carolina, studying poetry. His poems have been published in several print and online publications, including Feral Poetry, White Wall Review, The Bookends Review, and Echolocation Magazine

Follow Cole McInerney on Instagram

Follow Cole McInerney on Linktr.ee

See all of Cole McInerney’s poems on the Niagara Falls Poetry Project website:

•     The Buildings of the Dream
•     Convenient Corner
•     Lake Erie
•     Russell Street

Lake Erie by Cole McInerney

lake
Waterfowl on Lake Erie. Photo by Cole McInerney

The tide rises,
suggesting the season,
stealing the stairs.
I sit in competition
with the horizon,
wondering which of us
blinks first.
Remembering the anniversary
of my grandmother’s death
to be eight or nine years ago,
yesterday.
On that last day
she struggled out of bed,
laughing at the difficulty.
My grandfather
helped the tanker ships
retire from the lake,
until the ice breaks.

The tide recedes,
suggesting the season,
returning the stairs.
I think of you
rather than sleep,
ignoring my eyes
and the moth at the screen.
A stranger with your voice
laughs on the beach,
staggering into the water,
hurrying back out.
Eventually I dream,
within it you write to me.
In the caverns of the fantasy,
the landscape blinked.
The light at its farthest reach
sank into the sea,
and we laughed at the difficulty.

Source: The author, 2021

Cole McInerney is a poet from Niagara Falls, Ontario. He studied English at Toronto Metropolitan University. Currently, he is a MFA student at the University of South Carolina, studying poetry. His poems have been published in several print and online publications, including Feral Poetry, White Wall Review, The Bookends Review, and Echolocation Magazine.

Follow Cole McInerney on Instagram

Follow Cole McInerney on Linktr.ee

See all of Cole McInerney’s poems on the Niagara Falls Poetry Project website:

•     The Buildings of the Dream
•     Convenient Corner
•     Lake Erie
•     Russell Street