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Wildlife Metropolitan
by Chris Sorrenti
Ottawa is a city rich in wildlife
not always of the human variety
Nature has a habit of finding its way downtown
flocks of ducks – Canada Geese
easily spotted at the Arboretum
on Dow’s Lake
a Great Blue Heron frequents a stream
at South Keys along Bank Street & Cahill
one of the city’s busiest intersections
Not far off a buck a doe - their fawn
are often seen feeding precariously
between Greenboro Station –
the OC Transpo light rail line
and Airport Parkway
not much room to maneuver
a deer from another family
hit by a car last year on McCarthy Avenue
a mile west of the area
In the suburbs
coyotes and wolves are slowly moving back in
from satellite communities
Dunrobin - North Gower - Rockland
and not unusual to hear of moose
haphazardly stopping in for a visit to city hall
Just north of the Ottawa River
on the Quebec side lie the Laurentians
a ridge of low mountains
on the bottom most edge of the Canadian Shield
where cougars still prowl - bears hungry enough
venture into the suburbs of Gatineau
quickly tranquilized and transported away
before doing any real harm
But further a field
in those same hills
rising above the National Capital
one curious enough can go searching
for this region’s own version
of the mountain man
half human - half ape
and though not as often seen
as Sasquatch on the west coast
several are easily found
every second and fourth
Sunday afternoon of the month
reading poetry to one another
over a few brew
at the Royal Oak pub on Laurier
© 2005
Revised © 2012
Photo courtesy of the Net
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12/25/2012 Author's Note: Dedicated to the Sasquatch Writers' Performance Series, in celebration of its 25th anniversary. It was named Sasquatch by founder, Juan O’Neill, in response to what local poet, Jane Jordan, once said, in describing the poet...artist in general, as a hairy beast hiding in the woods. So Juan gave those hairy beasts a place to come out to, reveal themselves, and share their art. The series closed down in 2010, 4 years after Juan passed away. For more information, read my Journal entry titled: Some Local Poetry History And A Poem By Juan O'Neill 9/30/2012.
Posted on 12/26/2012
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 12/26/12 at 02:57 PM I'm there with you, Chris. I've never had the pleasure of visiting Ottawa and you make me want to. Quite a diverse group of animals near you, but that last stanza took me by surprise and was a delightful finish to this piece. Thanks! |
| Posted by Gabriel Ricard on 12/27/12 at 09:18 PM You're a storyteller who makes me grateful that you seemingly never run out of story. This is yet another example of that thought. |
| Posted by Gregory O'Neill on 12/29/12 at 07:45 PM All these "animals", like cities themselves, reveal themselves in a misstep of encroachment, and at night. Memory is not an instrument for exploring the past but its theater. It is the medium of past experience, as the ground is the medium in which unfortunate wildlife in cities lie interred. Enjoyed this write, thank you.
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