Public Art Poetry

Together

now and then, we still wander

forested trails

attached, even when not

holding hands

Those Days

All those

good days,

bad days,

tough days

drift along the

Fraser River

just the same.

This Place

A street light to see

a road to travel

a bike lane to ride

a crosswalk to stroll

a plot to plant

a hand to hold

a friend to meet

a bird to hear

a dog to walk

this place to call home.

Found Lines Overheard

And now without the smile –

I’m sorry, I was freaking out. Leave me alone.

Pavarotti’s singing, and he’s dead!

I think the girls should all be together.

It’s not a hard and fast rule.

At ACME GLASS we make your design come alive.

Watch me, Mama Chan!

Riversong 1

water striders dart upstream

hold the river in place

six exquisite legs

skip across riverskin

dancing the surface tension away

tender toepads dimple

the face of water

cast eye shadows on the creekfloor

watch this marvel unfurl

Riversong 2

on my son’s muscled tongue

wildspeech floods back

strider’s flicking limbs

trout’s pulsing gills

cedar scales measure each breath

the murmuration of spirit

the sound of stone

                                     holds

one hundred years in a heartbeat

SHIFTING THROUGH SMALL TALK

I never understood sitting in silence next

to a stranger. Even as a kid on the bus

I wanted to strike up conversation as

easily as a match lights a cigarette.

Inhaled imaginary quips. Exhaled

and choked, tongue-tied on the way

to Guildford Mall or Surrey Place.

I had to wait through twenty years in

a classroom enforcing the friendly rules

of conversation to finally find myself

comfortable inside chit-chat on my

bike to work. To turn to someone at a red

light and talk about her bell, or his panniers

or our sky, our bike paths, our gear in the rain.

Alone

Hope lurks in my eyes
as i open them- a useful
substance- today
i work it to shine
a shoe i wear
to walk out
of your door, to go
on your street
leading to an office
you own
a mall you have
a company you fund
the people you pay. Among all
these items
of lasting
value, notice that
the hope, the spark, the shine,
alone,
is mine.
..

Love-filled Scarf

It is not by coincidence that I am here.

I was pulled here by strings tied to dreams of a future,

full of opportunities and a better life.

When I struggled to find a place for my fragile roots,

this city’s diversity, values, and vibrancy

wrapped me in its colourful, love-filled scarf.

And I forever belonged here.

ਮੋਹ-ਭਿੱਜੀ ਫੁੱਲਕਾਰੀ

ਮੇਰਾ ਇੱਥੇ ਵਸਣਾ, ਮਹਿਜ਼ ਇਤਫ਼ਾਕ ਨਹੀਂ ਸੀ

ਖਿੱਚ ਲਿਆਈਆਂ ਸਨ ਕੁੱਝ ਮਜ਼ਬੂਰ ਤੰਦਾਂ

ਭਵਿੱਖਤ ਸੁਪਨੇ, ਰੁਜ਼ਗਾਰ, ਬਿਹਤਰ ਜ਼ਿੰਦਗੀ 

ਜਦੋਂ ਜੜੋਂ ਵਿਹੂਣੀ ਟੁੱਟਣ ਲੱਗੀ ਤਾਂ

ਮੇਰੇ ਸ਼ਹਿਰ ਦੇ ਬਹੁ-ਸਭਿਆਚਾਰੀ

ਬੇਸ਼-ਕੀਮਤੀ, ਬਹੁ-ਰੰਗੀ ਤੰਦਾਂ ਨੇ

ਲਪੇਟ ਲਿਆ ਮੋਹ-ਭਿੱਜੀ ਫੁੱਲਕਾਰੀ ਵਿੱਚ

ਤੇ ਮੈਂ ਸਦਾ ਲਈ ਇੱਥੋਂ ਦੀ ਹੋ ਗਈ। 

  -ਪਰਮਿੰਦਰ ਸਵੈਚ

Ellie in a Canoe

We set in near the Spit, the square grids slipping 

Down the banks into a rise of busy currents

Sweeping the runoff fragrant heat late morning

It took time, the zips and buckles, water shoes, a cushion

Steer and rudder, we glorified the middle seats. Free ride!

At one’s leisure. And you, smiled more than usual

The sparkle of the day in our eyes, family selfie sent to sis

Who loves it instantly from thousands of miles northeast

A day flowing under that boulevard dodging rock cycles

We eased around bows in the narrowing memory of water

Pushed through cultivated fields as furrows of grasses

Nests and perches, a rustle of curtains, enter a coyote

Their interests on the other side, trots to the water’s edge

Eases inside the flow and crosses, in a moment, more sparkle

The shake of water leaving fur in good stead, us, in the wake

Always

she always descends the stairs

into a park

in early flower

where to place her foot

her hand on the rail

how to stand

nothing else

passes through her mind

not even birds

Of hyacinths

their blue fragrance fills

the evening air

here the stars are born

illuminating skies

the perfume they exhale

overcomes a universe

Crescent

barely visible

the young moon against the shore

bent around the beach