Crossing The Line
Reader's Digest Canada|November 2017

If you think facing border protection is intimidating, try acting natural when you’re packing poetry—or worse, a saxophone.

Gary Barwin
Crossing The Line

NEARLY EVERY TRIP across the border feels like an ordeal: the anxiety, the agent staring deep into your soul, lines as long as the ones in a Walt Whitman poem. Are they going to find the oranges you stuffed down your pants? Do you even remember the name of the place you’re going? New Pork. I mean York. York!

When the guard asks you questions, it’s important to act natural. What is the average rainfall of the Amazon Basin? When did you start cheating on your taxes? Where were you the night of January 24? Spell your middle name. Backwards.

Being a poet, I’m bewildering to the inquisitor in the little booth.

“And what’s the purpose of your trip, sir?”

Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av Reader's Digest Canada.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra November 2017-utgaven av Reader's Digest Canada.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.