Before heading to Stratford on September 30 I checked to make sure certain stores would be open as many across the province & Canada were closed for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. They weren’t but if they were I was ready with alternative plans. There were many people with orange t-shirts’s when we got to Stratford, even in the audience. Both acts of the show opened with a land acknowledgement – something the Festival has been doing for a couple of years now. https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/national-day-truth-reconciliation.html
In June I blogged ‘Membertou First Nation’
https://topoet.ca/2021/06/06/membertou-first-nation/. Since then there have been increased protests – toppled a statue of the founder of Ryerson College here in Toronto – as the anti-native actions of historical figures are revealed. Streets are being renamed for the same reason. Some of this reminds of 1984 int which the past is constantly rewritten so make the people of the present comfortable. I saw a documentary on the Russian Bolshevik revolution in which figures were removed from photos when they were no longer considered good party members.
A National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is an important step – though why September 30 isn’t clear? Why not co-opt the already existing Victoria Day? A chance for the colonized to dethrone the colonizers. My fear is that like Remembrance Day it will become one of ceremony as opposed to a call to action to end war. Will we get people selling lapel dreamcatchers to raise funds? Will wearing that be enough to assuage our personal guilts.
I see that Tim Horton’s is selling a time-limited orange sprinkle donut with proceeds going to native organizations: http://news.timhortons.ca/orange-sprinkle-donut-supporting-the-indian-residential-school-survivors-society/ . I’ve tried them – they are sweet, flavourless & without real substance – a # donut.
Psycho Zombies in the Rain
it was raining ballerinas
you know
rain so heavy
each drop created a splash tutu
as it landed
on its one toe
to join the corps du puddle
a literal rain dance
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wet ragged gene mutated zombie
staggering down the street
skin stinking in the rain
crumbling for the lure of brains
grabs a light pole
flings aimless decaying arm
drops into the gutter
eyes washed but not cleaned
lightening strikes
the unlucky char
washed down the sewer drain
<>
the rain not a sheet but a curtain
a shower curtain
lightening cuts through it
an electrified knife
stab stab after stab
screams drowned out by the rain
rain so heavy
we can’t see across the street
can’t see
through the car window
wiper blades not cutting it
smearing rain like blood
on a steamy bathroom tile
sweet, eh? paypal.me/TOpoet
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