Wanda VanderStoop - Chemin Poulin, Qc

“Chemin Poulin, Qc” by poet Wanda VanderStoop tantalizes the senses with lush earthiness brimming with abundance and life. With a wonder and reverence for place, which can’t help but remind a reader of the late Mary Oliver, Wanda’s “Chemin Poulin, Qc” is an ode to verdant life itself. “Oh life!/How you persist” intones one of the final lines of the poem, and by the work’s conclusion we are grateful to be a witness to all of it, a part of all of it.

Chemin Poulin, Qc

The long drive wanders in
over train tracks,
past the slender slips of new trees,
past the “Zambezi”,
the longest rainspout in service to a dwelling.
We approach JLM (John Lenin Memorial) lane,
rolling noisily up along the gravel drive
to a house.
Forged in every detail, by hand,
a very fine house.
Alongside is a spring fed pond
abundant with tiny creatures,
orchestrating each evening
with choirs defying scales of both numbers and pitch.
A call and response soon fills the night,
from the croak of bullfrogs
to the ringing of peepers.
The pond is a thriving basin
deep with green waters
where things are born and borne
and teem with a million arms and a million legs.
Some still holding on to tails,
evolving every single day.
Filling every moment,
with movements
we must be very still to see.
Lie down and breathe in
the tiny floating droplets.
Fragrant with the sweet of clover,
of new green oats, of sweet lilies
and of cut hay.
Of moving and stagnant water,
of rich dark earth,
of wind bringing down mountain air carrying pine sap on a chill breeze.
A Vireo taps at the window,
Warblers chime,
the Oven Bird whistles to me
from deep in the cool woods.
I follow the beautiful redwing as she sings to her hatchlings all day long.
Oh life!
How you persist,
insist,
on propelling us both in circles
and forward.

Wanda VanderStoop

Wanda was raised in Newcastle, ON, Canada, home of the man who saved The Toronto Star newspaper in 1894. She ran away from home at 16, did manage to finish high school, continued on to college, left early, then worked in Toronto’s historic Kensington Market. She finally made her way to Toronto Metro University in the Media program. University was followed by 20+ years representing artists at the non-profit distributor, Vtape.org. Wanda and colleagues were recognized by the Governor General of Canada with a Meritorious Service Cross for their work in Anti-racism by co-founding the imagineNATIVE Indigenous FF. Wanda believes that age is solely a measure for the number of transformations one can achieve in a lifetime. Be they big or small, each lead to the understanding that “Aging is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person you should always have been.” Just about everyone’s favourite David Bowie quote.