“Transformer Stone”* by Jessica Lee McMillan
Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Transformer Stone” by Jessica Lee McMillan, winner of the 2024 National Broadsheet Contest!
Transformer Stone*
by Jessica Lee McMillan
to the peninsula,
in a pinksweatshirt and
faded jeans. infused my
body in sea mist. bus ticket
from stolen change, now pulp
sediment in pocket. on the inlet
side of Stanley Park the man who
cornered me—probably named Rick,
from Langley—asked why I was out
so far alone at 15. old enough to shake
him off along the seawall. I losthim
around Prospect Point, among ancient
cliffs of stratified rock. I rewrote the
shame of not pleasinga predator with
each step, washing my feet through deep
time. of the valley, I was always rubbled.
it felt like rescue when I saw the monolith
round the bend. it emerged as a sign-post of
survival. exceeding its host cliff, risen from lava,
bathing in the openof the great clean. the standing
stone, my monolith protected. upright and defiant,
with head of transienttrees, circling birds. stacked
from the sea, I became unshakable. loyal as a cliff to
the sky. I became the basaltic climb unpacking gravity to ossify
my shape against the waves of lesser things. I welcomed the whole ocean.
*After Skalsh Rock/Slhx̱í7lsh for “Standing Man” denoting the sea stack/monolith. The monolith is located along the Stanley Park seawall in Vancouver.
Jessica Lee McMillan (she/her) is a poet with an English MA and Creative Writing certificate from SFU’s The Writer’s Studio. Her work has appeared in over 30 publications across Turtle Island including Crab Creek Review, The Humber Literary Review, Funicular, Pinhole Poetry, and Rose Garden Press. Jessica was a finalist for The Fiddlehead’s 2023 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest, won the 2022 Royal City Literary Arts Society Write On! Contest for Poetry and has received Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations. She lives on the land of the Halkomelem-speaking Peoples (New Westminster, BC) with her little family and large dog. jessicaleemcmillan.com
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