Canadian Dream Poem by Chen-ou Liu

a haiku sequence for Sam Roberts who once said, 'I went out on the street today, the Canadian Dream was as far away as it's ever been...'


'I used to be...'
at the corners of his mouth
saliva stains

job hunting...
shadows of a maple
across the dew

'this promised land...'
each of his last words
drips with anger


Note: Sam Roberts is a Juno Award-winning Canadian rock singer-songwriter, whose 2001 debut release, The Inhuman Condition, became one of the bestselling independent releases in Canadian music history.