Poet's Song
The story behind the writing of "Young Wisdom"
This section is a place set aside for showcasing some of my poetry. Not all of it is current. It's a sampling of works created through the years, presented here in the interest of whetting your appetite for my new book, A Thousand Steps from Home, which rolled off the press in October. You can use the form below to offer feedback.
Other works: Trevecca | Damned Fools | The Alchemist
A THOUSAND STEPS FROM HOME: Look for my latest book of poetry in bookstores, or you can order it here.
"Young Wisdom": The back story
This is an observation made from the perspective of an inquisitive passer-by, making his way through a ripe-for-gentrification neighborhood and coming upon a group of youth painting sanctioned messaging on the drab, concrete surface of a highway overpass.
Nearby was one of the most upscale shopping centres in Canada; surrounding them the repressive landscape of urban decay. The circumstance-defying messaging found itself applied for public viewing courtesy a government beautification program.
The language used here, tongue-n-cheek, is drawn from the divide suspicion wedges between unequal groups of people interacting in shared space. It comments on instinctual perception of "other" when encountering people of outgroups, and how readily the walls that divide can dissolve into fountains of playful color.