One: sort of a review of Stewart Copeland’s Ben Hur, but really a run on, excitable meditation on music, fandom, family; a cacophonous riot, wherein complexity matters, but never overrules the sheer bombastic roar…

I bought Zenyatta Mondatta with my own money, back when I was a kid, and albums were at thing,  and we were that family – openly ‘halfbreed’ and forever under suspicion, building salt enough to resist the constant grinding. I had to have it. It was weird. It fit. I was embarrassed by these guys,…

Weasel in the Cern Reactor

once upon a time star woman did not listen she looked down too far and fell through a hole in the sky   muskrat, a tiny person dived below the waters brought her home   now, upon this time earthbound men seek under a mountain range to harness that particle they call god   and…

Reflection: St. Eugene, 2019

“We’re selling an opportunity to understand our history, to know our people and to share our vision of turning a 60-year nightmare around. We’re creating new memories for our children.” – Ktunaxa Chief Sophie Pierre St. Eugene is a former Indian Residential School, which has been made over into a resort, complete with casino and…

Do Not Send

Do not send the poets to build your mighty streets for we will follow stream’s meander and bend aside for the cities of ants. Do not send the poets to clean your house for we are apt to pause, enraptured by the fall of dust through light, and sing ‘o, there am i, o there…

Hunger Lounge: from 30/30 2019

in tame, cemented days like these ensconced in automated ease ah, what a gift again to see hunger, lounging in a tree all tawny bright, not quite replete yet not so fraught as seeking meat would make this golden beast ah, what a gift of joy to dream of your, instead of siren’s scream your…

Free – Graffiti6: Song Review, Years Later

Free running that bass up my spine while Jamie sings, heart in throat and the bells pulling i believe, falling, i believe “…hard to breathe when you’re not near” every one you ever loved walks streets and alleys full of young people seeking something inarticulate “I can’t live, oh, without you” and the city and the…

Potato Soul

it’s hard to cook potatoes at a certain time of year, they sag and wrinkle, all eyes, lustful surging outward, turning green if soul is a potato, how to judge? when to cook, when to save who’s greening for the renewal Image from Sewell family  archives, circa 1974, north of Valhalla.

Candle

how, as well to ask the wind, do you perform ceremony for someone who believed other than you do?   does the same wind extinguish every candle? was it real? the vision of your soul, as spark suddenly aware of how light the spiral of space and time wide open, how easy to fly  …

Listening to Snatam Kaur

and if you could not sing for me i would seek the song of strangers rather than live silenced   and if you desired to sing for me but your words were taken i would learn the songs of strangers and sing you new words   and if you would sing with me these songs,…

A Gorgeous Sort of Peril: Richard Lemm’s ‘Jeopardy’

Canada is rich with poets. Along our Starboard side, I can think of none finer than UPEI’s Richard Lemm. His latest offering, ‘Jeopardy’ (Acorn Press), reveals a poet philosopher in full command of his voice, drawing upon the evidence of the living world in order to inspire the reader, and make the most compelling of…