In The Hanging Gardens

Francis Edward Sparshott
From:   The Hanging Gardens of Etobicoke. 1983.

These are the seven wonders of West Toronto
Campbell's and Christie's and the Goodyear Co
and the Lakeshore Lions and two I can't remember
and the Hanging Gardens of Etobicoke

Like the last bus late for the last subway
in a barn broken by the snow
they loom like waking on the edge of dream
the Hanging Gardens of Etobicoke

Block piled on cinderblock affronts the smogbank
from every crevice the delicate ragweeds blow
where Mimico maidens await their dusty lovers
in the Hanging Gardens of Etobicoke

O come to me soon in the night and in the morning
go from me darling let me watch you go
stretching your stretchpants down the asphalt walkways
of the Hanging Gardens of Etobicoke

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Francis Edward Sparshott's works copyright © to the author.