Words by Holly Lee. Response in picture by Lee Ka-sing
黃楚喬李家昇早餐下午茶筆記集

Winter Poem III (Benefits)

For twenty years
sending group emails
rejecting his retirement
is his business of the day
today I receive the message
certain benefits
at a senior age

Monday
A and W all food 20% discount
Tuesday
Imax movies less three dollars per round
Wednesday
Canadian Tire senior special applies
Thursday
Drug Mart vitamins three-quarters of the price
Friday
Mcdonalds offers super size coffee at eighty five cents
Saturday
Mandarin serves 20% off their buffet
Sunday
Go Transit gives 65 plus one trip free

And countless more!
he sent in

My mother
received all those
but seldom used them
remembering her back
bent like an arch
of a rainbow
how I kept staring
and fearing her depart
now I have eyes
like hers
half moons
always cloudy
and I wish
I could afford
a nocturnal life
owls don't have
sleepless nights

For twenty years
shifted professions
climbing different trains
years passed like days
ugh! Twenty years
still quite spotless
this one-third
of our way

We've vowed
and kept
our promise
no complaint
a heart for the country
in the maple leaf terrain
you learn to love woodwork
you endure finger-slitting pain
I cook almost every night
I try different recipes
this land likes
a palette of world tastes

Now, we have only one season
eternal winter and its blight
one out of tune alto voice
don't discounts
make you feel better?
a sarcastic redemption
a pretend graceful age
soon travel to no-where land
with the speed of light

if I could rewind
winter's clock
I will wind back
if I could barter
I will trade
all the benefits
for the return of
days of awe
Yes
to yesterdays
and years
above
all



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