APRIL'S ALMOST OVER...WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

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I've learned to really appreciate Twitter over this election. There is no faster way to catch up on news, and not infrequently the friend-of-a-friend-of-a-re-tweeted-friend says something funny, and that sure helps. Just came across this: "Dear Governor General: Is it possible to prorogue an election? Just curious. Asking for a friend."


When last I posted about the looming election in Canada I said the NDP was third in the numbers game. Well, as of a recent surge of appreciation for the fireside chat feel of Jack Layton's campaign, the Orange machine is threatening to crush a number of comme ci, comme ça ridings. There's separatist talk again, the abortion debate was almost reopened except The Harper Government will never do that, the attack ads get nastier every day and my respect for all parties who indulge in such petty tactics is waning. If only these spokespeople would stop picking at the peccadilloes of their competition as if they were scabs and focus on telling us what they can do. Whatever happened to keeping it positive?


To that end, I thought I'd practice what I'm preaching and find five positive pieces about Harper, Layton, Ignatieff, Duceppe and May. Here goes:


Stephen Harper has the endorsement of the Globe and Mail. 


Over at www.canada.com Jack Layton warrants a dandy headline from Chris Cobb: Cane and Able — Layton's humanity hits right note: observers. By now, anyone who's been following the latest political skirmish knows that Jack had hip replacement surgery in early March; hence the cane. 


Michael Ignatieff secured the endorsement of the Labourers' International Union of North America for the Liberals.


Gilles Duceppe got a thumbs-up from the Canadian Auto Workers' Quebec Division.


Elizabeth May is doing well in the polls in the Saanich-Gulf Islands riding where she is challenging the Conservative incumbent. I'd love to see the Greens get a seat. She has the support of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities.


And for something with just enough levity to get us through, Rick Mercer has a column in MacLean's Magazine for the duration of the election. His most recent: Is Stephen Harper a Hologram?


If that doesn't cheer you up enough, watch these Salt Spring Island women who want to break up with Stephen Harper.

From the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, a look a the Prime Minister's economic record to date. The CCPA, self-defined, is "an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with issues of social, economic and environmental justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canada’s leading progressive voices in public policy debates."

And as this is my poetry blog, let me repost this poem of mine that appeared in Mansfield Press' 2010 collection, Rogue Stimulus—the Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament.

GOOD NEIGHBOURS

It was a small thing,

forgetting to check the venting index

before lighting the Solstice fire.

Who knew the sweet blue sky

was nothing but a large foot pushing down the smoke

laden with year-end remains

— her thrice-rejected manuscript,

the packaging that once encased a meat thermometer,

a copy of Stephen Harper’s biography, mint condition,

someone gave her for Christmas last year—

back to the earth from which it rose,

spreading across the subdivision like syrup on a plate

while a phalanx of neighbours from an archipelago of houses

arrived to complain of wheezing elders, burning eyes,

Happy Solstice dying on her lips

replaced by stammered apologies

and promises never  to re-offend. 

After they’d gone she cracked a Corona

and imagined she could fly above the clouds,

get the air moving, soar.

Here's hoping something gets the air moving in Ottawa again. The next few days should prove interesting.

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A WEEKEND AWAY—WRITERS DESCEND ON YMIR AGAIN

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First, there's the Ymir Hotel. I've blogged about this place before, Friday night jam sessions with eight or ten folk playing just about everything that can be played and taking turns singing great old songs: Lightfoot and Dylan and Tom Paxton's Last Thing On My Mind—this time the place was packed. Jugs of beer appeared on tables and food requests were communicated to the server, although by the time it arrived we'd mostly forgotten what we'd ordered. We got to catch up with each other before settling into the weekend routine. There may even have been the occasional bit of dancing. An experience not to be missed when you're in the West Kootenays.

Saturday morning, right after breakfast, we got down to work.

We took turns doing meal prep (ingredients which Anne DeGrace had organized ahead of time)

Lots of mealtime chat around the huge table

Dueling cameras

"Ask me about my book", said Jenny's T-shirt. And we did, and it was good!

Same time next year? Sure hope so!

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AN EMPTY CHAIR: NATIONAL POETRY MONTH IN CASTLEGAR

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As I'm writing this, my next door neighbour has a large grader of some sort (bad on technical names of trucks) going up and down the driveway. Neighbour has every right to do so. I suspect a paving job of some sort may be in the works. Good for Neighbour. But every time the machine comes down to this end of the road the house shakes to its very foundations. The horse nearby doesn't like it. He's been whinnying loudly and thundering around his yard. I don't like it. I don't like things that can shake the earth, and lately there's been so much of that. War in Libya. Uprisings all over the Middle East and Africa. Earthquakes in Haiti and Chile and Japan. Tsunamis. I could go on, but back to my point, the noise is making me feel quite nervous, and as I already suggested, there's no need, and I don't like the feeling. What must it be like when such a machine continues on through your old cedar fence and through your yard, eventually smashing your house down? How long is Canada going to be fortunate enough to not have to worry about such things happening here? Meanwhile, three or four carriers of sirens have just gone up the highway on the mountain behind our house. Someone's lives have just had some changes thrown at them. But these are not sirens of war or aggression. What must that be like? 

I've been mulling over such things after attending No Words Barred last Friday, a celebration by second year creative writing students in  Almeda Glenn Miller's Studies in Writing Program at Selkirk College. Iranian-Canadian blogger, Hossein Derakhshan, was present in the form of a photograph. I first heard of Hossein when George Stroumboulopoulos interviewed him on The Hour in 2006. You can watch the interview here. Hossein was wearing a T-shirt that said "I Heart Tehran" which is more than ironic given that he was arrested in that city November 1, 2008 and sentenced within the month to 19.5 years in prison  for reasons that are not completely clear.

Proceeds from the evening went to PEN Canada. There was an empty chair at each table with a picture of Hossein attached to it, and a minute of silence was observed on his behalf. During that minute I thought about my own blog, how in my last post I went off on Conservative Party policy but was still able to go to bed that night and not worry about someone pounding on my door because of what I wrote. I can't begin to imagine what that would be like, yet I know it is a reality for many people with whom I share this planet. 

Each table had its own student serving up menu choices of both words and food, one for the main course and one for dessert. The students had constructed their own little books  or chapbooks and donated copies for the PEN Canada fundraiser. 

Here's a look at some of the lovely books (with lots of variations of Coptic and Japanese stab binding), with some of the students in the background. 

Almeda, looking like a proud mom. She has every reason to be.

Our table: main course.

 And dessert.

Several local writers were there. That's Anne DeGrace, raising a glass of white, and Jenny Craig with the red. Rita Moir is on Anne's right and Antonia Banyard is beside her.

Readings were presented throughout the evening. Not too long, and not too many. I left wanting more, bought three of the chapbooks and had finished them all by Sunday. Riveting stuff! 

 Bill Metcalfe was there with the microphone that has become an extension of his hand, getting sound bites for a forthcoming CBC Radio show.

Here's another look at the book table

Terry listening to Almeda read some love poems. It was their 23rd anniversary. 

Not only were we treated to students reading, three of them managed to get us all singing!

Hossein Derakhshan, whose presence was felt, if not seen. Hopefully somehow, someday, he'll be free again and able to sit at one of these tables himself. 

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Finally, the League of Canadian Poets has a blog running for National Poetry Month featuring poems by several of its members on the theme of "nurturing". Mine, called Ritual, is here, or you can just go to the blog's homepage and wander about at will. On behalf of poets everywhere, I hope you will!

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