Pause For Poetry:
Michael Hawkes /55

Cabot Square

A poem by Michael Hawkes

Here in Westmount’s Cabot Square
Injustice permeates the air.
Opulence and deep despair
Contradict each other there.

The wretched waste their idle hours,
Watched over by the glass-bound towers
In the park that squats and cowers,
Consumed, it seems, by evil powers.

Encircled by the traffic’s flow
And having nowhere else to go
The homeless share their tales of woe
In painful detail, blow by blow.

While stories up, in clearer air,
Prospecting for a greater share,
The rich, conducting world affairs
Survey the skies without a care.

While down below the fentanyl
And crack exert their fatal toll
On folks who if they live at all
Live bewitched, enslaved, in thrall.

Jean Cabot on his pedestal,
With one arm raised to shield the glare,
Looked forward to a soft landfall
Over here near Cabot Square,

Unaware that future fate,
[If fate played any part at all] Would lead to such a sorry state
Next to an upscale shopping mall.

6/11/22 – Hawkes

Feature image: Andrew Burlone

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Michael Hawkes - WestmountMag.ca

Michael Hawkes was a cherished poet and contributor whose work enriched the pages of WestmountMag.ca with its sensitivity and depth. Over the years, he entrusted us with a rich body of poems, of which only a portion has yet been published. His passing leaves a profound void, but the poems still to come will continue inspire all who were moved by his voice.