Published May 15th, 2025
by Lawrence Winkler
It's a pain that kills your sleep at night, that eats you up alive
A spinothalamic howl of rising dread
Westwood Lake is under threat and will likely not survive
Because they're paving paradise instead
Chip and shred a plume of forest high into the air
Bulldoze blacktop boulevards and name them for the trees
Build tacky little boxes of detritus and despair
And bring the lakeshore natives to their knees
Lament the grief and sorrow of development disease
On Westwood Lake your soul would wake to Mother Earth's creations
Where Garry oaks and maples, hemlocks, alders, cedars grow
Harlequin arbutus, dogwoods, floating fir mentations
A salaloquy of undergrowth and kinnikinnick below
Mahonia, moss, and manzanita, chanterelles in the fall
Snowberries, skunk cabbage, sword ferns, and ocean spray
Herons squawk and ravens grock and screaming eagles call
Loonatic wails and cooing doves and shaaa-aak, shaaa-aak Steller's Jay
Cooper's hawks and turkey vultures soar above the fray
Kingfishers and woodpeckers, hummingbirds that blaze
Violet-green swallows in the morning and little brown bats at night
Clacking stick dragonflies, Banana Slugs amaze
Chorus frogs and painted turtles, Douglas squirrels delight
Coon and cougar, bear and beaver, deer and garter snake
Tea among the flowers in the garden was divine
Or lying in our hammock on the shores of Westwood Lake
Family and friends, now gone, who laughed and drank our wine
Would ache inside to witness our Arcadia decline
No remnants of Utopia will zoning czars allow
Soon buried under noise, cement and steel
This is what you're going to find a hundred years from now
One vast, conforming suburb of surreal
Another undistinguished slum of parking lots and sprawl
I'd like to offer consolation, solace just for you
Our years awake on Westwood Lake, we truly had it all
A refuge on the homestead where our giant redwoods grew
They touch the sky. I like that too.
About the Poet
Lawrence Winkler resides in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.
Read the poet's biography on Lawrence Winkler's Artist Page.
This poem is included in Poetry World #12,
published in the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
Previously published in Vancouver Island Poetry Magazine:
This is the first poem published.
Vancouver Island Poetry Magazine is part of the Wax Poetry and Art Network.
- Visit the main Wax Poetry and Art Submissions Page to see all opportunities.
- Visit the Wax Poetry and Art Library.
- This website and all contents ©Kirk Ramdath and specified artists.
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