Lomonosoff Page 2 Paintings by local artists: talent As halitosis, no radical belch Of abstract genius here, Newman, Rothko Not even smelled on the wind. The dry-goods     store Exudes stuff from the old country, Chivers Orange marmalade, Heinz's tinned treacle, O-Can-a-dandy ripe with pimples oozing Through the grille of the priest's box, our     adolescent Nation confessing the culinary sins of the dad. Off Main, gift stores bristle with Christmas ornaments, snowmen with carrot     noses And catatonic smiles, all made in China Or the Philippines, washed up on the banks Of the canal like bubbles of hard labor. Nearby, a condom fetches up against A yacht called "Lady Di II," royalty saluting The moon from where she's moored at By Bridge,     one     thing Straining after another, the Three Amigos Of faint, white hope in a town not given to     symbols. Nicholas Lomonosoff lives in Nepean, Ontario, Canada.