A Poem

Alberta

Alberta white and blue

juxtaposed with dry land navies

while their ships reflected in the sky

thundering with engines.

Many soldiers have we shared

to kill or help or coming home

with flags draped on their coffins

Because of war.

Oil is obvious

the cowboy roughneck

flying home and

this is where he finds his love.

His wife? The love of land?

The love of oil and money

Or else in cattle droves and horses

Where now post-modern buildings thrust.

Smart lawyers with their Blackberries

And doctors; entrepreneurs

Many entrepreneurs

Because we were mavericks first.

The politician coming home

to her family or

great colleges and churches

But still the soil.

And there beyond the prairies

To the west with mountain parks

Lakes hard with winter

Follow the wild rose and the crocus.

Conservative Alberta

Rich and haughty; poor too

First Nations pocked with native pride

The old the children of the young.

The oilman and his wife

Drinking just a bit too much

And combine flotillas swathing

No more family farms.

Still the buildings glass enclosed

Intrigued with boardrooms

Scratch the businessman or woman,

Find a cowboy.

Here in Alberta

Beautiful the laden prairies

You weren’t my first love, dear Alberta

You are my last.

My stone is here though foreign skies may call

Lands of greater legends beckon

Still they will return my bones

To dear Alberta.

Old buildings near Smoky Lake--negative image

Someone lived here once--Smoky Lake district

This old truck NE Alberta farm

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Robertson-Wesley United Church, Edmonton

Emma's garden,King Edward Park area, Edmonton