What Happened by Tom Walmsley

What Happened is a new collection of “pre-enlightenment” poems about everything Tom Walmsley considers significant, both to himself and (ultimately) to everyone else: God, sexuality, the wretched past (for everyone, one way or another) and the Here and Now. Reflecting upon his tumultuous past, Walmsley’s blunt meditations present a man who has learned (the hard way) about hope and thankfulness. Without being a work of genuine autobiography (except in the sense of that of Genet) What Happened is a collection of up-front, edgy and human poems that consider life an unresolved issue that should never be resolved as only Tom Walmsley can deliver.

on cowardice

i used to think i was a

coward it started when

i believed every lie i heard

but one summer day a

guy on hastings street yelled at

another guy for crossing on a

red light & the jaywalker strolled

back knocked him down then

cut his ear off &amp

i thought gee i just don’t

think i can do that.

❧

Tom Walmsley is the author of four previous collections, including Rabies, Lexington Hero, and Honeymoon in Berlin. He has also written three novels, ten plays and one film, titled Paris, France. He lives in Toronto.