Poetry of and about Niagara Falls & the Niagara River – the waterfalls, the city, the history, the stunters, and everything else Niagara
Last Sunday, January 19, 15 people joined me at the Third Space Café in Niagara Falls for a poetry selection event. The purpose of the event was to select the poems that would go into the Poetry Walking Tour of Niagara Falls app that I’m developing.
Each of the people involved gave permission to be photographed and videotaped. Thanks to my son Oliver Porteus who photographed, videotaped, and then edited it.
Please join me on Sunday, January 19, from 2-5 pm at Third Space Café on Queen St., Niagara Falls, Ont. for a poetry selection event.
We will collectively select the poems of Niagara Falls that will appear on the Poetry Walking Tour of Niagara Falls mobile app that I am developing. First we’ll get together in small groups and pick the best 2 poems presented to your group. Then we’ll get together as a whole group, read them out, and decide which ones are the best. You don’t need any poetry experience, it’s just the ones you like best.
We will provide free food and drinks .
Please email me at aporteus@niagarapoetry.ca so I know how many people are coming. Please feel free to invite your friends.
I hope to see you at the poetry selection event!
As we all stand in awe of her beauty, her power and her blessings,
Her hair cascades ever downward draping over her shoulders just as it should so fluently over every obstacle in its path,
And her breath emanating from her soft lips in the brisk air rises so high above, disappearing into the clouds,
Her sloping breasts just visible beneath her loose blouse,
Upon her face a sense of peace, but in her eyes a rampant ferocity as the light flirts and dances with every perfect angle.
How does such beauty, serenity and chaos exist simultaneously?
She remains nameless to those who know better that this is a just a part of a bigger whole that requires no label, just appreciation, but to others she bears the title of Niagara Falls
Source: April Jones, 2019
So She Flows was originally an entry in the 2019 Niagara Falls Writer’s Festival Poetry Contest. The contest was cancelled.
April Jones is a real estate agent as well as being employed with a winery, which she feels allows for her to engage in two passions of hers, and wine is obviously something this region is well known for as well as by trade, which to her is creative and fascinating. Jones loves anything creative from reading to writing to visual art of most any media. She moved to Niagara three years prior with her three children from Toronto and fell in love with the region instantly, and she feels like her love affair with it has only deepened and will continue to. She is grateful to share her experience of a place almost indescribable to her.
Niagara Falls to me is home, but so much more than just home.
In my time here, I’ve come to adore it like the comfort of an old childhood blanket, yet with the wonder and enthusiasm of a new love at same time.
When I walk down Queen Street in my silent reverie, I relish in its quaintness and the beautiful architecture of new memories, mixed with memories past.
As I drink in the warm rays of the sun through my skin so present to the miraculousness of all this city has to offer, I recognize that everything here has a special sort of charm.
From the way the curb wraps upward on River Road to the gorgeous endearing character homes to the old bridge on Queen with it’s wonderous, wild overgrowth.
And nothing more awing than the immensity of the gorge with it’s swirling, playful, mesmerizing currents of every sort.
Therapy and serenity live here for me and from what I observe, many others.
Not to mention a timeless sense of community.
Imagine a place where anyone can sit at a beautifully crafted instrument and engage in their own masterful creation outdoors.
Where you can experience culinary delights of every taste and culture.
Ride or walk along one of the wonders of the world and sip wine so thoughtfully created by those dedicated to producing something enjoyed by so many from wine to icewine to jams and jellies.
Festivals and faces of every sort of interesting.
The future, full of any possibility, for me remains the present as in my mind there is an almost indescribable perfection in what is exists as now.
When I stand in my silent reverie overlooking the river while the water sparkles and dances to a natural silent melody, I know I am home, but not just home, somewhere that is so much more than just home to me and I believe so many more.
Source: April Jones, 2019
A Most Beautiful Space on Earth was originally an entry in the 2019 Niagara Falls Writer’s Festival Poetry Contest. The contest was cancelled.
April Jones is a real estate agent as well as being employed with a winery, which she feel allows for her to engage in two passions of hers, and wine is obviously something this region is well known for as well as by trade, which to her is creative and fascinating. Jones loves anything creative from reading to writing to visual art of most any media. She moved to Niagara three years prior with my three children from Toronto and fell in love with the region instantly, and she feels like her love affair with it has only deepened and will continue to. She is grateful to share her experience of a place almost indescribable to her.
Where now is Nimrod’s mighty tower? Where the
Majestic walls, the warlike battlements,
The splendid palaces, the hanging gardens
Of Babylon?
Where the proud Nebuchadnezzar, who, with
Golden sceptre, swayed the world, and made
The nations tremble ? Where the proud Ninevah, —
The strong Thebes, with its hundred gates ?
The golden Tyre, the splendid Athens, the
Majestic Rome, with all their works of art —
Their monuments of fame, once the pride
And glory of the world ?
Where the mighty Pharaoh’s, the terrible
Alexanders, the invincible Cesars,
The warlike Hannibal ? Tyrants in turn.
Where now the gifted poets, the splendid
Orators, the profound philosophers
Of Greece and Rome, whose mighty genius
Hurled royal tyrants headlong from their thrones, —
Made senates weep or laugh at will, and ruled
The nations ? They are swept away by time ;
Their beauty, like the morning flower, is withered
Their pride and glory gone like leaves of autumn; —
Their grandest works are fast decaying,
Mouldering to ruin, soon to be forgotten.
But still my store house is unexhausted,
My fountain full and overflowing — my
Solid munitions of rocks stand secure. —
My voice as mighty as when the beauteous
Colors of the rainbow first sported in
The sunbeams : —
As when the intelligences of olden worlds
First gazed with admiration upon my
Expanded waters ; or, animated at
The music of my voice joined in the chorus,
And all the sons of God shouted for joy.
###But, boast not, proud Niagara ! Though
Thou mayest withstand the ravages of time, —
While countless millions, swept away with all
Their mighty works, are lost in following years. —
Yet there is a voice to speak, long and loud ;
‘Tis Michael’s trump, whose mighty blast shall rend
Thy rocks, and bow thy lofty mountains in the dust,
Before whose awful presence thy waters
Blush in retiring modesty ; and in
Respectful silence thou shalt stand in listening
Wonder, and admire, while thunders roll
Majestic round the sky, the lightenings play, —
The mountains sink — the valleys rise — till Earth,
Restored to its original, receives
Its final rest, and groans and sighs no more.
### Till then, weep on, and let thy voice ascend
In solemn music to the skies, — ’tis like
A funeral dirge, — ’tis fit to weep o’er the miseries
Of a fallen world in anguish deep.
Source: Pratt, Parley Parker. The Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Embracing His Life, Ministry and Travels With Extracts, In Prose and Verse, from His Miscellaneous Writings. Chicago: Law, King & Law, 1888.
Read about Parley P. Pratt on Wikipedia
Click here to view the article On the Poetics of Self-Knowledge: Poetry in Parley Pratt’s Autobiography by Joseph M. Spencer from the Journal of Mormon History vol. 37 Issue 1 Winter 2011