Past Tree Appearances
In Print
Videos of Susan McMaster
Susan McMaster
Susan McMaster is a Canadian poet, literary editor and spoken word performer who lives in Ottawa, Ontario. She is a practised speaker.
In the audio clip accessible above, Susan talks openly and honestly about her development as a poet. Her poetics are simple, she says, and getting simpler in a constant drive toward truth. Her poems use simpler language and are becoming more accessible as time passes.
Listen to this outstanding poet read and talk about her work, work that has been consistently original and always fresh.
From Susan McMaster
Sign of Respect
Afraid she’s fallen or had a stroke
when she doesn’t answer my knock,
I have the nurse unlock her door,
ignoring with a daughter’s disdain
the clearly written post-it –
“Do Not Disturb”
in her school-teacher hand –
stuck above the knob,
and can only laugh
with surprise and a kind of
relief and delight
to see two bare bodies
half rise on the bed,
as I step in.
“Sorry! – ” I back out fast.
Who gave me the right
to breach a shut door?
What made me sure
age had smothered that flame?
