Author: prairiepomes
Writer, gardener, hopeful curmudgeon, free-range Aboriginal, lover of life, Poet Laureate of Edmonton 2011-13, traveller, Fifth World Drummer.
On Land… Addendum: The Question that Matters
Addendum: This morning, I listened to the radio, and heard Greta Thunberg address the UN. Having lived through the Nuclear scare (notice nobody talks about all the armaments still out there, still as great a peril), and witnessed how people struggled for the ‘right’ title to attach to this crisis we must now fear, I…
On Land Acknowledgment in the Time of Climate Worries
Recently, I was privileged to address a gathering of the Society of Friends (aka Quakers), to offer perspectives on Land Acknowledgments. I was moved by their desire to ‘get it right,’ to engage with this new ritual protocol in a meaningful and authentic way; moved, but not surprised, given that the person who invited me…
In Residence
Well, I’m In-Residence now. Following in footsteps of many respected colleagues, peers and mentors, I’m the Writer-in-Residence at MacEwan University. A residency is so much more than a sponsored time and space for pursuing one’s own artistic goals, although that, in itself, makes a residency a wonderful thing. I’m being paid to obey my muse,…
Late Summer Mustangs
Boulevard elms are golding now, first fogs have lifted Time to return to keyboard and pen. Yesterday, my fab pal Shelley sent me a great poem, and the mustang spirit reared up and inspired a responsorial. Here, for your amusement: How To Love Your Life Begin in the woods. Feel the tree-air cool your limbs…
Askipaw: Permaculture Superstar
Woke up to a slight flu, enough to spend the day languishing round the house til mid-afternoon, when a timid knock at the back door announced Fatima, my neighbour, who had come to ask if I had grape leaves to spare. Fatima has been harvesting my leaves for a few seasons now, and I’ve become…
Camino Edmonton
My friend Astrid did something remarkable this year, in company with some remarkable folks. Read her story here: via Camino Edmonton
When The Way Seems Long
When the way seems long, or any burden heavy, we have songs Witness how love and courage lift and reweave the broken strands Ue O Muite Arukou, by Kyu Sakamoto, was a huge hit in 1961, and the English version – ridiculously titled ‘Sukiyaki,’ which is a bit like translating, for example, Unchained…
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…
