Poems for a Small Park

E.D. Blodgett

• Publisher: AU Press
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781897425343
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Canadian Poetry
• Index: Literature

This collection by well-known Edmonton poet, E.D. Blodgett, is an ode to the wisdom and divinity of silence. The poet muses on the quiet of the outdoors and the mysterious relationship that exists between spaces of silence within a city's limits.Most of the short lyrics that make up this sublime collection were written first in English and French before being translated into Cree, Michif, Chinese, and Ukrainian to reflect Edmonton's multicultural past and present. Together they form a composite view of the people and culture that inhabit the city's natural spaces.

nothing lay so clear

before those who stood

on these banks than the great

canopy of sky

that spread above them and

poured forth its endless light

and everything it seemed

stood eternal here

all that was laid bare

et tous qui ont suivi

sont entrés dans la lumière

comme si c’étaient une mer

qui les engloutissait

une mer pleine

de grands oiseaux

qui les menaient

plus profondément

vers la source des étoiles

or the golden light

of grain heading out

in summer calls them all

and gazing into it

they see summers spread

everywhere before

them flowing through the air

generations of

the sun standing in sheaves

while over all of them

the silent river and

the grass against their feet

a star unmoving stands

beyond anyone’s grasp

this is the light that draws

them all into the dream

of what will be when they

no longer walk here

possibility

rises in the light

as if every dawn

turned departure toward

endless arrivals where

only the rising sun

holds time in its light

asleep upon our hands

but of the past of all

who stand here it is

somewhere other than now

intermittent in

the sky as if it were

the moon floating...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Epigraph
• Gifts of a River
• Dreams of a City
• Copyright