Window display at The Word Book Store remembering Artie Gold |
I dreamed Artie Gold sat half-conscious in a hospital chair
slumped forward surrounded by women wiping away saliva
running down his chin. It was in this state
he decided to end his life.
The Chinese pottery Artie collected,
the T’ang Dynasty, the Golden Age
of Chinese culture and poetry;
now the American Empire collapses,
the look of the country
changes because of the men we admire.
Of Canada what can be said? A country of winter, a geography of wind
in a northern land—
the convergence of spirit and vision,
what we’ve become, the poem completed.
Revised: 02 March 2021; 31 December 2021.