A place that does not alienate
The tired “New Immigrant”
Honoured as well as:
Welcomed
The deep poetics of refuge and refugee
Place that releases exile
Place that releases exile
In shoulder to shoulder contact
I want to believe this city will end all wars
I want to believe this city will end all wars
So many countries represented
On any bus or streetcar ride
And the rush of movement through
underground tunnels
Brings the touch and sound of 220
languages and dialects / Interweaving and distinct
As the doors of subway cabins open and
close
As people pour in and out
From my streetcar window
The clearly visible Muslim man
approaches
He's tired of being feared
His wife is trailing behind him in her
yards of black cloth
( the irony )
She is more conspicuous than incognito
/ amongst so many dissimilar others
She has expertly sown a glaringly new
red and white flag
On his dollar store jacket / On the
chest pocket over his heart
She wants us to see him / See the flag
I walk for days through these neighborhoods
The red Fall leaf in gorgeous decay
Lining the corridors of Jamaica /
Ethiopia / Afghanistan
Pakistan / Greece / Italy / China /
India / Yugoslavia
Live currency of Loon / Elk / Bear /
Queen...and all the other animals that stand
On corners and sit in their old tea
houses and dark Horseshoe bars
Smoking the glorious colours / The
benign Maple Leaf
The inhale and exhale of Tarmac and the stink of
Still too many cars
“Welcome Place”
I walk back into you / through brick
and concrete
That hold my memories un-renovated
This city / alive in space / a
sacred message and messenger
Percolating to the sub-soils of my
being / the vibrancy of true recognition
Energized by faces I'd nearly forgotten
Life long friends still searching
for home in an
Outdoor museum of unconscious poetry
The interface of struggle and
transformation
No walls can contain their influence
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