Save Our City

Earlier today, I was taking a walk through the Downtown Eastside and I noticed that the storefront that originally had this cool art on it was now boarded up, as if construction was going on around it.  It’s a shame because I quite like the graffiti-like quality (or maybe it is actually graffiti in which case, wow, graffiti that actually looks nice!) of it with the black background.  I took a panorama shot of it with my phone back then and I’ve had the picture for a while, not really sure what to do with it.  And as I have no idea what to blog about today, I thought I’d just share it.

As I walked past the storefront today, there was in a black marker, much, much smaller, among the writing on the boards, one that said again “Save our city”.  Perhaps we really are in need for saving.

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The other day,
I saw a crack in the city,
between the needles on the street.
And the skyscrapers
injecting themselves
into the sky

The ocean blended with heaven —
a warm, blue universe,
inviting all those to stay.
And in this fracture,
all was peaceful and calm,
while a tempest
of shouting
traffic
and plagues
raged outside the blue.

The blue, confused me.
The line between water and sky was blurred
nonexistent
as if the sky was now on Earth
or all the oceans floated in the air
an elegant carpet into the galaxy
I stared in awe, transfixed by the beauty
And the confusion.

But when I blinked,
the city returned to its former state,
as if it had healed itself.
The crack in the city,
now smoothed over and filled in,
like the cracks on the road in front of me.