Tag: St. Catharines

burgoyne bridge by atlantic

burgoyne

we were not meant
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡to take Flight
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡in such a manner

a brief act
‡‡‡‡‡‡of desperation
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡will cause lasting wounds
‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡that can never heal

please

‡‡‡‡‡‡‡‡stay grounded

Source: the author, 2019

Burgoyne Bridge was infamous as a place to commit suicide, as it crossed high over the Twelve Mile Creek. Suicide barriers were installed when the Burgoyne Bridge was replaced in 2016.

atlantic was born and raised in Niagara Falls, where he still resides. A selection of his work is available on Instagram

Also by atlantic:
•    Baby Steps IV
•    carnival tunes
•    Robert Frost
•    water child

A Niagara Landscape by Archibald Lampman

lampman

lampman
Stamp honouring Archibald Lampman, issued July 7, 1989

Heavy with haze that merges and melts free
‡‡Into the measureless depth on either hand,
‡‡The full day rests upon the luminous land
In one long noon of golden reverie.
Now hath the harvest come and gone with glee.
‡‡The shaven fields stretch smooth and clean away,
‡‡Purple and green, and yellow, and soft gray,
Chequered with orchards.    Farther still I see
Towns and dim villages, whose roof-tops fill
‡‡The distant mist, yet scarcely catch the view.
Thorold set sultry on its plateau’d hill,
‡‡And far to westward, where yon pointed towers
Rise faint and ruddy from the vaporous blue,
‡‡Saint Catharines, city of the host of flowers.

Source:  Lampman, Archibald. (ed. & with a memoir by Duncan Campbell Scott)  The Poems of Archibald Lampman.  Toronto; George N. Morang & Co., 1900.

The Lampman family homestead, originally known as Mountain Point, became the present day Woodland Conservation Area.