You Can Change Countries Just By Walking Across The Room

 

At the 45th parallel
a row of potted petunias separates
the longest international border
in the world.

In this parallel universe

one tiny library
straddles two cities
two countries, shares one
Dewey Decimal system.

 

If

 

We the People
stand in

the stacks on Caswell Avenue
in Derby Line, Vermont,
and You the People
stand on Church Street
in Stanstead, Quebec, our arms

stretched toward each other
fingers casting
beams of light
on each other’s pages

cradling the history
of our two worlds…

If

We stand
under our shared
neutral sky,
north to south
south to north,
our humbled bodies
forming a cantilever
across the celestial sphere,

perhaps

We can
bridge the great divide,
rift, row
of potted petunias
across running rivers
falling waters…

perhaps

We the People
can stand
with Langston Hughes

On the rich soil of the world.
or cross
boundary waters
of regret
On the rivers of the world.

If

We slowly
run our fingers
across poets’ spines
where Naomi Shihab Nye’s
Kindness resides…

if

You
Stay walking with me
through the stacks
where Margaret Atwood’s
Lonely Military Historian warns us
Wars happen because the ones who start them
Think they can win…

Maybe if

We cross
this boundary
the longest international border in the world
between two countries
join hands touched by poets’ wisdom

and warnings of war,

Perhaps We can
meet where Nye offers
Different Ways to Pray.

If We stand
toe to toe
on creaky planks, a line
of electrical tape
demarcating
the exact international border
just beyond where
Hughes reassures us
The mind seeks a way to overcome these obstacles,

just past
where Wendell Berry
reminds us
We must wait
the slow unalterable forgiveness of time,

Perhaps
We can raise our voices
in the Haskell Free Library & Opera House
and with Leonard Cohen
sing Democracy’s song
And the mountain's going to shout Amen.

Oh, Canada
Oh, Canada.

 

– Linda Belans 2018

 

Inspired by the New York Times story Where U.S.-Canadian Border Is Marked by Petunias, Not a Wall

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