Demolition

by Trudy Grienauer

i. Augustana Church
in one crude swoop
of a metal hand
the rafters are exposed

beams joined carefully by masters’ hands
to create a sanctuary
polished ribs jutting from a spine –
63 years is a life time

ii. Walterdale Bridge
sparks fly as trusses are torn
from pylons
and cut up for scrap

what patience to place thousands of rivets
across a river
in arcs like bony, broad backs –
104 years is more than a life time

iii.
it’s like the hide coming off
the sinews pulled
the bones disjointed

done without ritual
nor knowledge of
the sacredness
of destruction

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Trudy Grienauer is a storyteller and student of life from Edmonton, Alberta. She has been a member and regular contributor to Edmonton’s Stroll of Poets for 10 years. Two of her poems set in Jasper National Park have been included in the hardcover anthology “Vistas of the West”. Her poem “Rossdale, April” travelled on Edmonton buses as part of the ETS Poetry Route, and her song “To Walk in Beauty” in honor of missing and murdered Indigenous Women was performed by Edmonton Metropolitan Chorus.