For Poetry Month, I’d like to bring to your attention poets that I’ve loved.
Today, it’s Rita Wong:
Her wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rita_Wong
An interview with her:
http://canlit.ca/canlitpoets/poets/rita_wong
Her poetry:
*http://blogs.eciad.ca/ritawong/?page_id=5
* http://www.poetryinvoice.com/poems/fluorine
last year, i never imagined we would be
round dancing in Glenmore Landing
round dancing in Chinook Centre
round dancing in Olympic Plaza
round dancing in West Edmonton Mall
round dancing outside the Cayuga courthouse
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drumming at Waterfront Station
drumming at the United Nations
drumming at Columbia University
drumming at Granville & Georgia
drumming at Dalhousie University
*
taking a much needed pause for thought
a human river on Ambassador Bridge
remember we are all treaty people
unless we live on unceded lands
where rude guests can learn to be better ones
by repealing C45, for starters
*
we have to stand together in many places all at once
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it is Gandhi we need to align ourselves with
Gandhi and Gaia and Vandana and Maude and marbled murrelets and mycorrhizal mats
Winona and Ward and Jaggi and Arundhati and phytoplankton and peregrine falcons
Naomi and Oren and Toghestiy and Jeannette and Lee and bittermelon and bees
Percy and Shiv and Jack and Elizabeth and chrysanthemum greens and canola, now radiated
Yoko and Yes Men and Chrystos and Dionne and dolphins and prairie dogs
Theresa and Melina and Pamela and Rosa and salmon and cedar
Wab and Harsha and Clayton and Eriel and eider ducks and water bears
Takaiya and Roxanna and Glen and David and wolves and whales
there is a time for pies and there is a time for rocks and beavers and snowy plovers
there is a time for poems and a time for rifles and coral reefs and caribou
there is also a time for the Haudenosaune Wampum Belt
two rivers running side by side
(as long as one party doesn’t try to dam and mine and kill the other’s river)
and a time for spinning wheels
it is Super Barrio, who stopped 10,000 evictions in Mexico, who I look to
it is the Zapatistas, the Mohawks, the KI, the Lhe Lin Liyin
it is the children I will never see, but who I hope will live and drink clean, wild water
with gratitude to Chief Spence, whose life I celebrate and honour
Her books:
http://www.nightwoodeditions.com/title/forage
http://www.amazon.com/Monkeypuzzle-Rita-Wong/dp/0889740887
http://catalogue.library.ryerson.ca/record=b1880795
Enjoy more poetry and walk the talk.
jacqueline valencia 