Toronto woke up to snow April 21 much to everyone’s shock. For a few minutes the city forgot the covid19 pandemic 🙂 These are pictures I took that morning around my east-end neighbourhood.
Snovid19 April 2021
Tag: April
Sneak Peek – May 2019
April recap:
April unexpectedly proved to a rather retrospective month for me. In looking for the print-out of the Armstrong family tree I came across a pile of poems written way back in the late 60’s, early 70’s. I though – Easter = resurrection. I culled some out and did a very light edit as I input them. By light I mean dispensing with punctuation, start of line capitals, made spelling & typo corrections. 
My fan base continues expanded slowly but surely. WordPress is up to 316, Twitter sits at 217, & Tumblr is at 224. Coal Dusters continues to grow as I get nearer the end with 96,500 words posted so far, about 37,000 words to go. The clash between the striking miners & the militia has been great fun to expand. I’ll be doing more research when I visit Cape Breton in August that’ll make the final draft even better.
The other April highlight was finally getting new glasses. It’s been several years since I’ve had my eyes checked it was about time. My vision has improved with age ( much like my sex life). This time there was no resistance to visible bifocals – I tried the non-visible but the bi-area was too small for me. I like a larger bi, for some reason. Opted for real colour for the arms – something I’ve never done before. They are a strong yellow.
Not much coming up in May though 😦 Going to Stratford Festival to see Henry VIII – a play I’ve never seen before. I’ve also booked a tour of the Festival costume department that morning. After the costume sale last year I wanted to see more of the warehouse. Tours have to be booked in advance & are limited to 30 people. Lots of photos should result 🙂
One thing I’m not looking forward to this month is missing Capturing Fire on May31/June1. Though if lotto max coughs up before then I’ll book an emergency get away 🙂
Aim
it doesn’t matter where I aim
I come back to earth
my arc cannot lift me
far enough way
to escape the greedy clutch of gravity
my aim is set beyond
the horizon
beyond belief
around the silent corners
that wait for all
no not even wait
waiting involves expectation
of something arriving
they have no expectations
the earth is mere witness
no not even that involved
the earth doesn’t see
doesn’t feel
it remains constantly present
regardless of what goes on around
above
beneath its surface
no emotional investment
in anything
anyone
how sweet to be a rock
a stone
a boulder
being what one is regardless
of what goes on around you
even the pulverizing machine
creates no fear
no perception
safe in stoney silence
blind self-contained
even when in a pile of other stones
absorbing the same heat
or frozen
in the same icy rain
not struggling next to one another
for warmth
no complaining of being too close
the arc of the tossed rock
as it sings though the air
can’t throw it high enough
hard enough
fast enough
for it to escape the law of gravity
it falls to the earth
as we all fall to the earth
our bones may break
our expectations
higher than a stone can be aimed
when they return unfulfilled
we aren’t crushed
but continue to practice
how to survive rough landings
Hey! Now you can give me $$$ to defray blog fees & buy coffee on my trip to Cape Breton – sweet,eh? paypal.me/TOpoet
I’m Not The Answer
I jumped right into poetry month. I think last year I was in the thick of some prose diversions. I’m posting a new fresh piece every day on both my FB page & on Make Spoken Word Go Viral. Viral has also been offering a daily prompt. I like a good prompt even more than a nice … well anyway …
On my FB page I’ve also been pairing the piece off with a photo, usually of mine & usually one that sort of relates to the poem. The posts stay up about 24 hours & get deleted before I post the next. Catch’m while you can.
Here’s one from earlier this week:
True
I was ready
to meet you half-way
I stood a moment there
on the stairway
you were nowhere to be seen
I couldn’t deny
what my eyes told me
only your footsteps
in the snow
after the moment
I made my own tracks
I was too cold to waste
anymore time on you
I’m not the answer
to anyone’s prayers
#GetIntoMyDrawers
Over the years I realized that Toronto really doesn’t have Spring. It’s damp and cold with flashes of sun then bam – hot and humid. I know summer is coming, and like nearly everyone I know, I can’t wait for these cold days to be over but I know putting away the long-johns isn’t going to hurry things at all.
So April is poetry month – something like cancer awareness month – only there ain’t no cure for poetry – no one is really fund raising to put an end to it – most people are just hoping it’ll die on of its own if they just stop paying attention to it –
I’m doing my bit to make things worse by posting a poem a day on my facebook site – each one will only be up till the next one gets posted – so get’em while you can. I’ve spent the last three months working on short story so getting back into the imagist space will be pleasant for me – and maybe for you too :-).
TOpoet 