|
Stairs to the Stars
O Rupert! Stacked houses upon stacks of houses,
foundation footings stepping on rooves,
widows' walks widowed, dormers dormant, storm doors dangling,
houses standing on stairs and layered on ladders,
stairways to Heaven,
all of your windows staring at the sea.
Here and there poke conical conifers;
wooing branches bow to walkers,
climbers clamouring to chambers
high above the lee.
Cameleon chimneys shimmer in rainbows;
prisms imprison French bright colours and English drab.
Smoke mingles with mist; paint faints in floating fog.
Lichens line logs; tufts of moss creep freely.
Portioned porches appointed with Scotch Broom,
hammocks and hanging chairs, stray cats,
fishing floats, bumpers and stumps,
mid-yard middens hidden in the scree.
O Rupert! Stilts and pillars, pilings and columns:
Tahltan totems tell tales, while tell-tales on masts
mask Tsimshiam fishermen. Seines skein the Skeena,
while coves cover cairns under Kaien Island's cannery.
Stack and stack bent boxes of oolichen in carved canoes,
rattles and paddles and cradleboards,
native drums grousing, net drums 'nyet'-ing.
Stack your crab pots, million cases of salmon,
gossamer gill nets drying on racks,
'mosquito' boats tied up in packs,
replaced by strollers and trollers and plastic kayaks,
crates stacked on freighters and your nine-millionth tree.
Stack, Rupert! Your history, your layered cultures,
your boats and planes and trains,
your tents and tolerance,
your long and laborious,
cliff-climbing, glorious
song!
© Ruth Hill Prince Rupert Centennial 2010
Ruth Hill was born and educated in upstate New York. She traveled North
America extensively, including two years in Alaska and five years sailing
BC. She is now a Certified Design Engineer in northern British Columbia.
Over 60 of her first year works have been selected for publication. Some of
her poems have been archived in Word Catalyst online magazine. Ruth enjoys
email from other writers.
Email: Ruth Hill
Return to Table of Contents
|