The poems in The Monument Cycles investigate how memorials, cenotaphs, and works of public art express our desire to capture the fleeting and the intangible. Specifically addressing the city of Vancouver, the texts focus on its impoverished Downtown Eastside and explore the narrator's experiences working there, in the "poorest postal code in Canada." Mariner Janes works in the inspiring and troubled Downtown Eastside district of Vancouver, British Columbia. He incorporates the multitude of voices from this community into his work, through found poetry, transcription, and storytelling. Janes is currently working on a collection of poetry that examines the lives and deaths of social and environmental figures from around the world.