YVR by W.H. New

Started: July 14, 2012
Finished: August 24, 2012
Pages: 126

What is it with the poetry? Really, it's been a long time since I've read as many as 3 books of poetry in a year.  Unfortunately, I liked where I started (Memory's Daughter)  more than where I've ended up. 

Which isn't to say that YVR was without merit.   But I suspect that it would be difficult to read and enjoy without both a knowledge  of Vancouver and a knowledge of Vancouver's history.  Too much of the imagry and too many of the references would slip by you otherwise. But if it's our cup of tea, the book is a single poem to Vancouver, past, present, and future.

"This is a praise poem:

for the public school,
    where cultures mix to become now,
    the lion dance as everyday as
    Robbie Burns and Halloween

for the idea of the Vancouver neighbourhood,
    which no longer paints living space,
    by colour, languge, filiation --

for crossing meaningless lines, for talking over
    fences, for walker's right-of-way, for
    public space to meet in, share --

We do not stop hearing the pipes and sitar,
cymbals, fiddles, dulcimer, drums --
But the past does not fix our children
sing their own songs, wear their own clothes --

If we choose, we will learn who we are
from the breath of our grandchildren:

Praise them -- "

(from "Main Street", pg. 96)