The following poem appeared in the Rocky Mountain Outlook of November 27, 2008. This composition is by Bert Dyck, the former Town of Canmore CAO, and addresses a recent community controversy about clotheslines being prohibited in certain Canmore developments

The Answers are Blowing in the Wind

Bert Dyck

I went to Canmore for a walk
On rivers, trails or creeks
Or climb Ha Ling, that rugged Rock
Or other worthy peaks

When what should cross my line of sight
And bugger up my view?
A clothesline on a yard stretched tight
Replete with laundry, too

The lot on which the line I found
Was large and well located
With clothesline on that piece of ground
Its value I deflated

I would have given it a price
Quite high, or even higher
Secure in mind that owners here
Could well afford a dryer

But now with clothesline in full view
Doubt filled my worried head
What else was wrong? Were dogs offleash?
Were birds by feeder fed?

And further, was the lawn well-kept?
Was it sprayed or mowed?
Were sidewalks in the winter swept?
Were cars parked on the road?

With each thought I was losing hope
Be still my racing heart
A clothesline is a slippery slope
From which such problems start

But then, the sun began to shine
It washed the clothes in light
A breeze played softly with the line
A not unpleasant sight

I thought, why should I come undone
At all this flapping flannel
Which draws its heat straight from the sun
No need for solar panels

The thoughts that had consumed my brain
Away from me they crept
Clothes on the line will help sustain
A very Natural Step