Calgary Through the Eyes of Writers

The Plaza Theatre by Calgary artist, Stan Phelps (Photo: Arcadja Auctions)

For the poet in inner-city Kensington, “pastorally winter sucks.” A “sparrow-thing” offers a small comfort as it dives into a Japanese lilac, “dune frost pampering each blow.” But it is the street that captures his attention. A girl in Hello Kitty western boots skipping with her mother “like fire-eaters/toward the hurdy gurdies at Livingston & Cavell.” Hipsters in fedoras “chatting up graces of the vexed/and crawly eyed.” The marquee at the Plaza Theatre announcing its latest offering.

Across the street the world’s

best commercials are at two

well you can put a price on just about

anyone’s salted butter lavished

over the dark I’m in, thin, screamy,

and now the curtains unfold

to my astigmatism

looking out for itself

Weyman Chan, “Calgary in February,” Chinese Blue (Talonbooks, 2012)