One of the things that has been keeping me busy this year is that I am taking a class in Canadian Design History. I had hoped that the fallout from my assignments would ultimately benefit this largely American audience more than it has, but here at last is something I can share.
Our 3rd assignment was to write a poem on the subject of Canadian Identity. I decided to write 10 poems: 10 Haiku, one for each provincial flag (I skipped the 3 territories, sorry), from west to east.
i
squashed Britannia on
wavy ocean lines under
inept rising sun
ii
field of blue around
mountainous pictoral crest
illegible parts
iii
red prairie lily
dominates three wheat bushels
oddly missing sky
iv
conservative red
ensign plus lonely bison
trapped atop a rock
v
rejected logo
canada’s three maple leaves
and used British parts
vi
four fleur-de-lys for
a big divided province
pushed to four corners
vii
ancient nordic ship
invades black east coast waters
yawning and stretching
viii
generic gold shield
covers the intersection
of blue X on white
ix
abstract what the fuck
is that Romulan star ship
made from Britain’s flag
x
another lion
over sadly stunted trees
with busy borders
……….
Fun, huh? So dear Speak Up readers, should you feel so inclined, I invite you all to write Haiku* for your own state, provincial, municipal or whatever flag, right here, right now.
*Where Haiku is defined loosely as a 3-line poem with 5 syllables on the first line, 7 on the second and 5 on the 3rd.
By far one of the best posts! It makes me proud to be a Canadian. Marian, I applaud you.
My poem,
we stole from the swiss,
as alberta, and 'toba
unionized maple
On Feb.15.2006 at 05:02 PM