And the winner is …

The envelope is out of the bag, and the winner of the Downtown Business Association’s contest to celebrate the poetry of downtown has been announced.

Congratulations to Chrystal Seutter, winner of the Downtown Poetry Contest. Her poem, couriers and i, is a delightful picture of the young men who bring our packages – and the young women who wait for them. Chrystal will receive $50 in Downtown Dollars, a $50 gift certificate for a downtown restaurant and a $50 gift certificate for TIX on the Square.

As close runner-up, the judges selected Agreement between Buildings and Core, a witty legal contract imagined by lawyer and poet, Michael Penny.

Judges' comments

Reading the entries to the Downtown Poetry Contest, with their variety and insight, gave us great pleasure

Some poems brought flashes of recognition – the names of familiar restaurants, or the names of Catholic clergy that had meant a lot to one author in Edmonton’s earlier days. There were many vivid pictures of downtown. For example, Tom Casey’s poem Churchill and City Hall gave us this bright image in one stanza:

A child sits on stone ledge.
A white bucket-hat
Cups blond ponytail
Reaching to her blue T-shirt.
Rolled-up black jeans
Reveal tiny legs
Knee-deep in water.

Others achieved that hallmark of poetry – the marriage of interesting image and sound. In Christina Martin’s poem, A Day Downtown – Observations, we particularly enjoyed the lines:

I pass the line-ups at the coffee shops
the bleary-eyed early risers

(Hear the repeated ‘b’ and ‘l’ and ‘r’ sounds in that second line, along with the long ‘i’ – you have to slow down to say it, almost like a tongue twister, and it catches that not-quite-together morning feeling.)

Another wonderful line, from A city so fine by Marguerite Redshaw, uses sound effectively to catch our remarkable twilights:

Summer’s long, sunlit days infiltrating the nights

And then there was Alison Clarke’s charming image of “EDMONTON, Home of Jack Rabbits Sprinting at Night”

Or this familiar picture made effective by its nicely repeating ‘d’ and ‘b’ sounds, almost like the positioning of the trees down the centre of 121 Street:

Shady elms run checker board down your boulevards
Harold Goldbeck, Edmonton

Other poems gave thought-provoking critiques of our city’s changing presence. For example Mairie Maclean’s, downtown Edmonton, 2007, catches the transience of our position on this “proud, high bluff, rooted in sweetgrass a moment ago” contrasted with the urgency of today’s boom in two vivid stanzas.

So the choice of winning poems was not easy. But the winning poems by Chrystal Seutter and Michael Penny are consistently strong throughout, engaging and definitely different, and we congratulate both writers.

Winning poems

couriers and i
by Chrystal Seutter

i walked the sidewalk to the bus stop tonight
and it was still daylight;
i saw a tread from a bike
in the new snow
in the soft new snow on the worn-out sidewalk,
and it made me think of you.
plural. all my handsome courier-acquaintances
who i am delighted to know,
and who i listen for,
down the long and echoing halls of a building
that can be a bit of a prison to bear.
but then i hear the scratchy overly-loud voice
on the other end of your radio,
and perk up, eagerly anticipating
who will next demand my autograph and
bring welcome or unwelcome paper works.

i wanted to follow that tread
to see where it lead
to see if it would lead me to you;
and wouldn’t you be just-so-surprised to see me,
especially if i planted a soft kiss on
your pink cheek,
bid you come to tea,
and tell me more
of your crazy adventures
that daily careen up and away from you
on the oily and frantic streets of downtown,
to and from the buildings
where sweet chicks await your deliveries
and hope to catch a glimpse
of your sparkling smiles
and mud-splattered faces.

Agreement Between Buildings and Core
by Michael Penny

1. Preamble

Core, territorial as always
required certain covenants from Buildings.

In furtherance, Buildings met,
and, following an agenda

of alley and street and
despite some motionlessness,

voted to associate.
Buildings drafted by-laws

of walls, floors, and windows
and numbered themselves

for membership, in Edmonton
and to enter into this Agreement.

2. Agreement

The terms are: Buildings
acknowledge Core is central.

Core acknowledges Buildings
have their acts and habitations,

and Buildings and Core agree
to enter into other Agreements,

in furtherance of the preamble
and including (without limitation):

licenses, leases, goods and services,
employment, assignment, shareholder, loans

partnership and powers of attorney,
and all possible purchases and sales.

3. Schedules

Schedules to this Agreement:

(a) The Map; and

(b) The People