When the whitefish taken from Lake Superior
were no longer fat as blimps and the world
was already on the skids, we put the kids
in a small inflatable boat and swam them
across the Little Pic River with the tow rope
clenched between our teeth.

The osprey shot upriver
dangling fish the size of running shoes and we
gained the shore like a crack commando team
taking up our defensive positions against the bears.

The kids started in on the blueberries
which is why we were there and why the bears
were there; the sky was clear, the sun scalding hot
and on the shore of the Little Pic River
we had a standoff; one blueberry for us,
one for the bears, and one for the pot.

Bio:

Peter Unwin is the author of ten books, including the novel Written in Stone and the story collection Life Without Death, shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award. His last poetry collection, The Infinite Park, was published in 2022 by Cormorant Books. His latest book, Playing Hard: A Life and Death in Games, Sports, and Play, has just been released. He lives in Toronto with his wife and two daughters and is a member of PEN Canada.