(One liquid hint from the House of Memory)
I fling open
the morning curtains
the Ontario greets my gaze
with a rippling silence
dull-green
from my Westin Castle** distance
billowing Left now
(the last time I was here
her swing was mellow Right)
Down, down
almost beyond the eye
a steamboat tattoos her face
with effortless gliding
overhead,
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a maple-tailed jet roars
into another distance
unmindful of the bodywork below
(Air Canada gives you the sky
We do it all for you)
Seeing you again
so many seasons later
I ask with the pensive enthusiasm
of a wandering rememberer:
Are you still the Merciful One
In your Sorority of Lakes?
Originally written in Toronto in April 1991; slightly amended for publication here.
Harbour Castle Westin Hotel, whose 17th floor was witness to the writing of this poem.
An Air Canada commercial jingle in the 1970’s. One of my favourites.