Tonight I read through the poems I wrote on my trip to North Dakota and Saskatchewan during the summer of 2004. The poem below pays respect to William Stafford, a poet whose writings that I ate, breathed and fell asleep with during those six weeks. The 49th parallel is the border between the U.S. and Canada. My words echo his poem, “At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border.” It has been almost nine years since I visited this overwhelming space, and it is far away from my home on the Atlantic Ocean, but I can return by walking down these lines of words.
Reading Stafford at the 49th Parallel
This is the voice I carry, lines to wrap round me,
when I float too close to borders of despair.
This is the voice whose hope carves days,
where no hatred ever strays,
and green breath fills my mouth with prayer.
Birds still pilot blue skies unbound
above yellow fields that heave, swell, rise.
Led by you – I bless anew – this pass-through ground
charted by pursuit, desire, waste and greed.
Left behind for young dreamers to seed.
A beautiful poem and a fine homage ot a very fine poet. Well done. Enjoyed.
Thank you, Jamie, especially since I admire your work and your creative abundance!
I’ve crossed over that line but in a different spot. Coming from California along the Pacific Coast Highway up to grandma’s house in North Burnaby, BC.
My cousin took me back up there about 7 years ago. Her mother came along and demanded that each of us buy the limit of her favourite gin at the border shop. She passed last year and no doubt my cousin inherited what she had not finished off. Her days of gin had faded significantly before that trip.
I would love to see British Columbia — quite a different landscape from Saskatchewan and eastern Alberta!
There are those whose very name puts me into a state of mindfulness. William Stafford is one of those. His voice, his rhythms, his content, his inner silence spoken put me in the moment. Thank you for giving me this gift this morning.
I hear he was stubborn and went his own way. Glad to share a love for Stafford.