Stanley Park

By: Alan Hill

Thirty thousand years of human existence

mutation, progression, of culture

has led to this

you on a sea wall feeding fries to a Racoon

to this gnaw of jealousy

as you look at the firm bodied young

roller skating, biking

in their entitlement, vanity, happiness.

If you want to help

do something sensible, good

stand mid span, on the Lions Gate Bridge

on the arch of its back

supernatural float of metal plate

that staples the city’s mouth, gives lips to

a hard imperial shout

turn your back on us , look out

into the emptiness, disinterested ocean

do what I cannot, have no courage for

cast words into the void of god for us

wait for something, anything, to come back.

---

Alan Hill was born in the UK and immigrated to Canada in 2005. He is the former Poet Laureate of the City of New West-minster, BC (2017-2020), former president of the Royal City Literary Arts Society (RCLAS), and was the editor and curator of A Poetry of Place: Journeys Across New Westminster, published in partnership with New Westminster Arts Services.

His writing has been published internationally and his poetry has appeared in Event, CV2, Canadian Literature, The Antig-onish Review, subTerrain, Poetry is Dead, among others. He works in the field of community development and immigrant settlement and lives in New Westminster, BC. His book In the Blood was published by Caitlin Press in 2022.