Transformer Stone*

to the peninsula,

in a pink sweatshirt 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 lost him

around Prospect Point, among ancient

cliffs of stratified rock. I rewrote the

shame of not pleasing a 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 open of the great clean. the standing

stone, my monolith protected. upright and defiant,

with head of transient trees, 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.