Gord Downie’s Death and the End of the Hip Inspire Canadians to Express Themselves in Poetry
Many Canadian music fans are mourning the death of Gord Downie in many different ways. Some, like Jerrod Eson, are trying to express what they feel through poetry. More than 25,000 people have viewed this on his site.
Gord Downie is all of us
He’s our winter jacket
Our frozen mitts
Our sneakers in the snow
Our Hockey Night in Canada
And all the things we know
He’s our 99
Our 87
His beloved #4
Our Bob and Harry in the booth
Our guy who shoots and scores
He’s our Stanley Cup
Our morning skate
Our mullets fit to groom
Our local minor hockey teams
Our beers in dressing rooms
He’s our bonfire chairs
Our Blue Jays games
Our fishing at the camp
Our CBC, our Double-Double
Our card games ’round a lamp
He’s our Bay of Fundy
Our Hudson Bay
Our tides and waves and breaks
Our rivers, streams, and puddles too
He’s all of our Great Lakes
He’s our Group of Seven
Our Hugh MacLennan
Our Atwood and MacLeod
Our David Adams Richards
And all who make us proud
He’s our Secret Path
Our dew in grass
Our sunlight and our glow
Our morning rain
Our pleasure pain
He’s everyone you know
He’s our 401
Our CN Tower
Our fields and forests too
He’s everything Canadian
He’s all of me and you
-Jerrod Edson
(We love you, Gord!)
This one came from Alex.
Gord and Leonard’s Song
On the way
Down the Queensway
Listening to Cosmo
On Chez
They played Gord
Singing, ‘Halleluiah’
We’ve got Terror and Trump
In lieu, ya
Two, now go
And teach us how to keep our eyes
Bigger than horizons
And for all the times
We get sucked into the past
Urge us gently
With calm
And with sincerity
To live!
For we get what we get
If we’re not careful
If we do not move forward
As loving individuals
Because this is hard
No doubt
But indeed,
We are strong enough
And we may see
If we think long enough
That you both
Taught us different ways to be
Kid and the Cloth
From Montreal to Kingston
Upper and lower
Of this old nation
We’ve lost you, dear lovers
Of its peoples
Of its land
Bringing us together
And the truths at hand
Of our family
Of our hate
Of our triumphs
Of Bocaygeon’s lakes
The Partisan
The Ladies’ man
The broken
The Canon of Cohen
Making others blush with envy
With a lust for life
A joy de vie
Its quiten’ time
I didn’t walk out on my job
Today
I re upped with them instead
In Gord and Leonard’s memories
I told my dad I will
Make money and write poetry
He advised me to travel
Around Quebec and the Valley
I walk in my hero’s footsteps,
(Though they not really be),
Just people I respect
Who helped teach me,
To live peacefully
RIP
