Here's Fred, my hubby with a zucchini from our garden this year.

My "Chi Panda".

THE NORTH SASKATCHEWAN

A dark Peruvian mistress swirls her skirt
through the downtown river valley
and she will rush past you in the crowd
and you will never know how fast she can run
until you hear the splash.

Then her dark murky flesh is all around you
and your mouth aspirates her sweat
all you feel then is oppression
and you can still hear the sound of feet
and traffic beating above you
as she pulls you down.

face down
there you are
a week from now
still floating
in her arms.


I just wrote this, I was watching the news about the missing student being found dead. I just know unlike Lake Superior, the North Saskatchewan gives up her dead, eventually. It's like the Hudson, bodies are dumped, people jump in. I think both the Bow and N. Sask. are probably treacherous and if you fall in, well...

Bad day but hey, it was a Monday! Monday sucks! Even if you have the day off, sometimes you just can't seem to avoid that sucky part. I am working on my newsletter today and I want to place an excerpt here of the movie review I wrote for "The Constant Gardener". So here it is:

Some people may remember Network, the 1976 satirical film about a fictional television network and its struggle with poor TV ratings. It was written by Paddy Chayefsky and directed by Sidney Lumet, and starred Faye Dunaway, William Holden and
Peter Finch. To cut to the chase, the film spawned the popular phrase "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore," though the actual quote in the film, as uttered by Howard Beale, is "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"
Well this movie made me feel this way but truthfully I have no choice but to take it. I alone can’t do much. The film adaptation of John Le Carre’s “The Constant Gardener” is the flick I am referring too. I am still trying to figure out if the title is at all significant to the content or did Le Carre just come up with a great title that he liked? It stars Rachel Weisz (The Mummy) and Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient). What makes me mad is the way the country of Africa is portrayed as being, as one minor character puts it “f!@#$%&* ed by the world.” It’s all true as Le Carre would have us believe by his note with the end credits that the truth makes this story look like a garden party. I think I believe him and I guess that’s why I’m mad. This past weekend the World Aids Conference pointed out that it is the women of Africa and other Third World Nations that need education and support. The world at large says they will help but what they do is not enough and so often the people we are trying to help end up at the mercy of unscrupulous governments and drug companies because they are black and poor and who really cares if we lose a few anyway? What is really maddening and scary about what Le Carre is saying is that where do we draw the line? Perhaps maybe Big Brother will not only be watching you but perhaps exploiting you and using you for his experiments next? It says a lot about how the various governments handle world affairs and their roles in world government. The kid with the most toys wins. Watch this movie and see if it doesn’t open your eyes.

"Lord of War" with Nicholas Cage elicited similar emotions. I just get disturbed when I see the way the world is going. As a writer I feel there's a certain responsibility to speak out. Most of this is done through my poetry but I don't like to get political but it does happen.

Oh a happier note, I finished my "garbage bin" painting that now adorns the bin behind our garage. It pays tribute to Rikubetsu our twin city in Hokaido, Japan. A shot of the side of the bin is included with today's post. I also finished another painting this weekend.

I'm noticing that Fall is on the way, the subtle change in the angle of the sun and the air, well it just smells different. Summer just went by too fast. I'm not ready for the stresses that come with the Fall season. This poem expresses my feelings best.

THE FALL FROM GRACE (The Last Long Weekend)
It’s not legend
the trees have lost their green overnight
the leaves now red and yellow
smudges on the sidewalk.

Fallen from summer’s graces
the sun’s declination decides down
for a lower angle
the shadows grow long
and thoughts turn inward.


My gentle glee is gone
and the last of the summer wine
filters down my throat
the air and my heart are heavy
as the attitude of the wind alters
threatening winter chills.

Knowing this last long weekend
will also fade
like looks and the summer sun
I expedite it’s passing,
as I order more bourbon to liquefy
the fall from grace.

I wrote this last year but it still holds true for me.

Home again, home again tickety boo!
Well my work week is done. Sorta. I have a painting to finish on canvas, a new one to start and a garbage bin to paint all this weekend, oh my!
Last week I finished painting my first actual guitar! It needs to be varnished yet but it looks pretty good. I call it, "Mexican Flavors"

NAPKIN POETICS (The Poem from which this blog takes it's name!)

What I like is
I have just written
this little thing on a napkin
my mind cut images of voices
out of startled life around me
from the clamour of a surrounding restaurant
plain white and ordinary
but looking at it
there is some kind of trim around the edges
which doesn’t stand out much
until you look at it closely.

Pic of me at Halloween, sort of a Underworld Vamp thing.

My first blog! Wow! I must contemplate that for a few days!