Yes, thank you. I had thought that ->raise() and ->lower() were using levels, rather than a stack.

The solution here is to use ->raise_to_top() with the text. A general solution is to use ->lower_to_bottom and ->raise(n) with the text, where n is the number of squares.

# Draw some blue text above the squares
for (my $count = 0; $count < 5; $count++) {

    my $text = Gnome2::Canvas::Item->new(
        $canvasRoot,
        'Gnome2::Canvas::Text',
        x => (($count * 100) + 25),
        y => (($count * 100) + 25),
        fill_color => '#0000FF',
        font => 'Sans',
        size => 10000,
        anchor => 'GTK_ANCHOR_W',
         text => 'Hello world!', 
    );

    $text->lower_to_bottom();
    # Raise the text above the 5 squares in the Canvas stack
    $text->raise(5);
}
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