Westbank's awful poem rewritten
For their exhibition, Westbank wrote an awful and pretentious poem about how they are fighting for beauty. They've slapped it on the stairs on Commercial Dr x Broadway skytrain station. They've even created a neon light display of the poem.
The original poem by Westbank is located on the bottom of this page here or here.
It was begging to be rewritten, so here's a new version:
When did we say yes to beauty being
discarded deleted and demeaned
by real estate developers
like Westbank?
Where is the agreement
that beauty must be defined
by the pretentious vision
of one CEO?
Since when have we learned
the price of beauty
is set by how much money
a company can throw at a self-curated exhibition
about an empty fight for nothing
but cash?
How could we have missed
that beauty is in the eye of the beholder
not a corporate-bought substance that makes it way
through a blanket of ads to come after our
senses in full force
to craft a fake narrative
that Vancouver is not beautiful
unless Westbank makes luxury condos?
Because we, the people of Vancouver, have not signed up.
Westbank. Stop pretending you’re fighting for beauty.
The real fights are by the people.