by Tom Bauer
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| ‘Self-indulgent’: Churchill statue plans stir public controversy, perplexity over motivation. Statue will be installed at Calgary’s McDougall Centre in 2023. —Livewire Calgary, August 27, 2022 |
Like deadly white mold, signs keep surfacing.
The skin of life develops pustules and blisters;
past echos of a fierce disease of dominance
resurfacing to blight the natural landscape.
Looking at faces I see hope and care.
I see landscapes of spontaneous growth
moving as one towards some shared outcome
each of us unconsciously wants to see.
Statues do not see, and will not see us through
their purpose, ownership of all we seem.
Their stone presence blocks our human landscape.
The greatest monument might come to be
feeling connected when we come together
and see the real enemy: the harms we cause.
Tom Bauer's an old coot who lives in Montreal and plays a lot of board games.