- by Richard-Yves Sitoski

One of my responsibilities as Poet Laureate of Owen Sound is to highlight community poetry: the words of local residents who express their reality through the medium of poems. I have highlighted works by members of several community groups. Today, I would like you all to notice the words of one individual.

It’s important to say his name, but I don’t want to call him out. So though he gave permission to use his surname, I’ll use his first name only. It is Gabriel. Gabriel attests to the power of poetry to express our common humanity when our personal situations are difficult.

I don’t know Gabriel. But I am aware that he is a community member in straitened circumstances, who is thankful to the people running the Love You No Matter What tailgate soup kitchen that brings food and clothing to local residents every Sunday at the Owen Sound Farmers’ Market.

Gabriel is someone who has much to say about who he is, and about who we all are. And he says it succinctly, through poetry, in a way that grabs us by the lapels and looks us in the eye. There is no more powerful poetry than the poetry of lived experience, a poetry concerned with the here-and-now, to illustrate our common plight. We are Gabriel.

Only Me and the Wind

The soul is homeless and life is fire
We are home
The night is water
I am here
I am the Earth
Then I am gone
We are the wind

by Gabriel S

(With thanks to Francesca Dobbyn)