Hear Robert J.M. Shipley recite his poem.
1983
spring frogs’ songs
mating whistle din
drowning out the passing traffic
ghost chorus
here among the ruined locks and weirs
descendants of canalers
have laid a stepping bridge
of ancient broken stones across
the dead water
of the once pond swamp
they drink
and smash the bottles down
in the wake of a canal
they swill where their
ancestors spilled sweat
a hundred Mays ago
leaving jagged pieces of glass
and hearts
suddenly, on a sharp shard of
time
the frog spirits fall silent
and we hear the twentieth century again
First published in Peter Baltensperger (ed.). There Is: Niagara Poetry Anthology, 1983. St. Catharines: Canadian Authors Association, Niagara Branch, 1983, 35.
Published in Spirit of the Big Ditch: The Story of the Welland Canals in Pictures, Poems and Songs. Compiled, edited and annotated by Robert Ratcliffe Taylor. St. Catharines: The Historical Society of St. Catharines, 2024
The Historical Society of St. Catharines 