Poet recites ‘poignant, powerful’ lessons
‘Depression grinds my bones to dust’: Council told of war, addiction and homelessness
Ziysah von Bieberstein, the poet laureate for Peterborough, performed a poem for council on Monday night that was meant to have been a welcome to the new year address — but didn’t turn out that way.
“I wrote many drafts and poems, but I could not find my voice,” von Bieberstein said, as part of the piece.
“I just kept asking myself: How can I wish you a Happy New Year? How can I wish you a Happy New Year when homelessness, addiction and illness are rising as fast as the seas, when isolation has driven so many of my friends to despair, to poverty, to the streets?”
“How can I wish you a Happy New Year when a Hiroshima’s worth of bombs continues to drop on Gaza, when political allegiances blind our own leaders to 22,000 killed, millions displaced, lands depleted, bodies dismembered, entire bloodlines memorialized? Eventually, I realize I can’t.”
“I can’t wish you a Happy New Year. I can’t wish you a Happy New Year because I myself am not happy. Most days I’m not able to get out of bed ... Depression grinds my bones to dust. My therapist says this is what grief looks like.”
“All grief wants from us is our presence,” the poem later goes on.
“It doesn’t need us to pretend we are happy. It doesn’t need us to fix the problem. What grief needs is for us to be brave enough to feel. So all those who are struggling like I am, this poem is for you — to tell you that your presence is beautiful, is everything. Your attention to the pain in this world is necessary. I’m here to tell you that your tears are medicine.”
Coun. Joy Lachica thanked von Bieberstein “for such a poignant and powerful and personal piece.”
Lachica further said she stood “in
solidarity with” the silent protesters from Food Not Bombs sitting in the public gallery on Monday night, for the second meeting in a row.
“I just wanted to acknowledge the guests that we’ve had in the gallery in these last two weeks who bear words and numbers, and today they’re bearing symbols: flags calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, a release of the hostages. An end to civilian onslaught, a stop to the provision of arms, and a withdrawal from the illegally occupied Palestinian territories,” Lachica said.
“I thank you for your call to leaders and municipalities, as well as all levels of government, to acknowledge the egregious loss and suffering and impact to so many — and to so many within our own community who have lost family and loved ones.”
Also at the city council meeting, Monday night:
Water Street Apartments
Council gave final approval to allow a seven-storey apartment building to be built on the southwest corner of Water Street and Marina Boulevard.
Two buildings will have to be demolished, to make room: a commercial plaza (the one where MPP Dave Smith used to have his office) and Ron Lay Motors. The plan is for 73 apartments and seven townhouses, plus commercial space on the ground floor.
The vote happened without any discussion or debate.
Traffic calming
Council voted a final time to consider setting aside money in the 2025 budget to permanently install the following traffic calming projects (set up on a trial basis in fall 2021):
■ Franklin Drive, in the city’s north end — speed cushions to slow traffic, plus a pedestrian crossover to get to Northland Park.
■ Auburn Street/Dunlop Street, in the east end — turning prohibited from Armour Road to Dunlop Street.
■ The area around Cherryhill Road and Westridge Boulevard, just within city limits to the west — speed cushions, a pedestrian crossover at Cherryhill Road and Mapleridge Drive, plus curb radius reductions at Cherryhill Road and Westridge Boulevard.
Total cost to install the measures permanently in the three neighbourhoods is $533,300. Since there was no money set aside for it in the 2024 city budget, council voted to consider putting away those funds in 2025.