She’s a bottle rocket, shaken never stirred
Up until the sunrise, attitude undeterred
And if the radio don’t play her song
She won’t have to sing along
Nevertheless I know
I’ll never have to try
It’s not my song you want to sing
It’s not my words you need to know
Nevermind the highs and the lows
Or goodbyes and I’ll-never-knows
All the melodies she holds
And all the miles she has to show
Left unspoken, understood, in the moment never heard
It would never change a thing inside
And if the words don’t come to life
Blame the poets who never tried
No matter how much I try
I’ll never see past those eyes
Maybe the words will never flow
They always seem to come and go
Curse the lines I never should have wrote
Or the ones I’ll never know
The key I never wanted, locked inside the heart I never stole
Where I know I’ll never reach
Behind glistening gates of gold
Where the dust will never settle
With these answers that I seek
And the feelings that I lack
The love that never takes what it gives back
I wonder if she’ll notice these words
From a voice that only sings sad songs
Nevermind these days, they won’t always be the same
And a week from now when I’m out of town, lost in the sounds of today
When the silence that I loved to hate won’t even show its face
Farewell to that love of mine
I hope she won’t mind that I didn’t stay
YUWAI BRIAN WONG is a third year student in the Professional Writing program. Recently, he worked as an archaeological field technician performing assessments all across southern Ontario. In his spare time, Yuwai practices and writes music with his friends. This poem was also recorded as a song.
This is Punk Girls Don’t Live Forever performed by Tyler Shim.
We would like to begin by acknowledging the Indigenous Peoples of all the lands that we are on today. While we meet today on a virtual platform, we would like to take a moment to acknowledge the importance of the lands, on which we each call home. We do this to reaffirm our commitment and responsibility in improving relationships between nations and to improve our own understanding of local Indigenous peoples and their cultures.
York University’s land acknowledgement may not represent the territory that you are currently on, and we would ask that if this is the case, you take responsibility to acknowledge the traditional territory that you are on and its current treaty holders.
York University acknowledges its presence on the traditional territory of many Indigenous Nations. The area known as Tkaronto has been care taken by the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the Huron-Wendat. It is now home to many First Nation, Inuit and Métis communities.
We acknowledge the current treaty holders, the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is subject of the Dish With One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement to peaceably share and care for the Great Lakes region.
From coast to coast to coast, we acknowledge the ancestral and unceded territory of all the Inuit, Métis, and First Nations people that call this land home. Please join us in a moment of reflection to acknowledge the effect of residential schools and colonialism on Indigenous families and communities and to consider how it is our collective responsibility to recognize colonial and arrivant histories and present-day implications in order to honour, protect, and sustain this land.
In recognizing that these spaces occupy colonized First Nations territories and out of respect for the rights of the Indigenous people, please look for, in your own way, to engage in a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration.