Sylvie Hill

Montreal is For the Living

Here, I am reminded of how boring, how dull, and how monologic I am.
“You’re one of the most interesting people I know!” they say time and again.

But I perform, I am “on,” and I am guarded in scripted lecture.
Social anxiety bricks a wall, some will say “you can not get near her.”

I put on a show for those whose conversation bores me, takes me nowhere.
It keeps things vibrant, I people-please, I wear two faces like in Kundera.

Is it that there are interesting people around me before and I wasn’t listening?
You know I mused and obsessed his kind because he was so fucking intriguing.

Yet, every single man and woman here I meet in Montreal, and am meeting
Has something to TELL ME, to share, a story – if I am hearing.

Here, I am reminded of how out of practice I am at efficient socializing
I am afraid to return home to a Life of social isolation and hearing myself talking.

Then again, how many in my social circle are so valuable and sustain me!
(Some people build walls to protect them from the reality they are seeking.)

In Ontario, we talk of corporate ladders and climb to next levels and paycheques.
In Montreal, they speak of politics, humanity, Life, and how to live well.

Yet like Keith and Miles once said, in Montreal, check your watch, time flies!
Sure, you’re busy having fun but what do you have to show for this time?

Montreal is for the living, and jolts awake those dead inside, and sleeping
I am a Canadian migrant, then, seeking refuge in a new land that’s reviving.

Montreal is for the living, but how to make a living in Montreal?
Jobs aligned to values, and status not dependent on Leon’s catalogues at all?

Montreal,
June 10, 2018