Fair Play

By Max Vandersteen

Fair Play is a collection of poems influenced by growing up in urban Alberta.

The poetry speaks to shaping values, creating character, and facing challenges alone and together with members of our community locally and globally. The poems are about growing up and also about growing together to build an equal community for all through love and a level playing field here and anywhere and everywhere in the world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514483855

Max Vandersteen

I was born in Australia and raised in the cities of Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, from the age of 3, after my parents emigrated. Being brought up in Alberta provided the opportunity to participate in many outdoor activities that I relished, such as skiing, hiking, fishing, camping, and canoeing. While I still enjoy these hobbies whenever I can get away from the city, I have lived in Edmonton permanently since 1973. Although I came to attend university, I settled into a career of plumbing and pipefitting until I retired in 2012. The diverse people and experiences I have encountered here have instilled a passion for the community and social justice issues present in daily life both within this region and beyond. Along with now volunteering more of my time in these areas with organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Development and Peace, and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, I also promote and sell fair-trade products in various venues. Retirement has also given me the time to write more and share my feelings about the values I have gained through these activities. When introduced to the words and imagery of poetry, I began to write during my high school years and continued sporadically until recently to try to capture my feelings and experiences through the sounds of poetic language. Becoming more involved with social justice issues has opened my heart further, and retirement has provided the time to promote common good, faith, and social justice through writing poetry. I have previously published a book of poems two years ago, entitled The Iguanas of El Rey.

Book preview

ONTWIKKELING

A Dutch girl

(een Hollanse meisje)

sister, maid and babysitter

servant to her brothers

(Hollandse broers)

rearing and nurturing me too

a Dutch lady moeder

my mother

scolding me then holding me

molding me and proud of me

(trots op haar erste jongen)

firstborn of

my mother

who would cook and clean

shine his own shoes

and go to school.

Her life was of work

but work was her life

and always a perfect Christian wife

(een volmaakt vrouw)

my moeder

a Dutch lady and matron

(een Hollandse dame)

who also polished me

and prepped me

to look after myself

and to look after my debts

even giving me a bill

(een rekening)

when I struck out on my own

leaving our home

(ons huis)

to go to school

so I cashed in my bond

(een obligatie)

savings earned in my youth

through babysitting

and a paper route.

Through pride, self-preservation

and will

then I earned (my living)

while I learned (about giving);

I still

owe her so much

for that education

(een ontwikkeling).

THE HARROWING HITCH TO JETHRO TULL

I

I t was no contest, they would have to head west

for sun and for fun and for just conquest

by thumb to come to a concerted destination

a little like rolling stones, through the current unknowns,

turning new turf in still unexplored zones

free of docility, fences and brands.

Eager to depart they made their heady start

armed with peace and over reaching heart

hitching out on TransCanada highway one;

the exit was swift as they got a quick lift

setting both their goals and souls spinning adrift

but destiny still held in an other one’s hands;

their mood was elated and expectations were inflated

by the ease with which their journey initiated

with no doubt in good will or not oft travelled roads

the company did vary, both cooperative and contrary,

and although all bonds were likely illusionary

charity was still champion of the day.

As hitches grew sporadic the journey became emblematic

of solidarity through love and life nomadic

presenting lacks and lessons in timeless episodes;

the further they sallied through endless peaks and valleys

less often through the passage their spirits rallied

above the bias and hazards curtailing their way.

Though in wisdom