Monday, May 23, 2011

POETS AND PONDERING AND A HINT OF SPRING

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You may wonder at my lack of posting anything after The Harper Government pulled off a majority win on election night. No, I wasn't sulking, just busy.  I worked the advance polls as a poll clerk. First time I've done anything like that. It was fun to see the process from another side. So here's what happened on election night. Thanks to the way our political system works, Stephen Harper's Conservatives Party won with 39.6% of the vote, which got him 53.4% of the seats in parliament.Some good things happened. In my riding, NDP incumbent, Alex Atamanenko, resoundingly trounced his opposition. Elizabeth May won her seat in the Gulf Islands and became the first Green Party member to be elected to parliament and the NDP shook up Quebec something fierce. Stay tuned. The next four years should prove to be, um, interesting. 


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In March I was in Sooke at a poetry writing retreat. Got to see old friends again, search for inspiration on the beach, eat fine food, laugh a lot and best of all, WRITE! Here's the view from Ocean Wilderness. Kind of makes you want to pick up a pen, doesn't it?


These words to live by are at the bottom of the path that leads to the beach.



Judith Heron, on the way down

Pat Smekal coming back up, demonstrating what I've come to suspect: that humans were invented to move rocks around

This little guy made a cameo appearance in one of the poems I wrote 

Wendy Morton and Lisa Shatzky, probably looking at a picture of...

...these! (Probably the most photographed glass balls in a bird bath on Vancouver Island).


My wonderful roommate, Pat, hard at work


Wendy and Patrick, sizzling something in the kitchen


Trailer-towing going badly, right outside our door. Seems it was a little too heavy and one of the axels broke. The incident spawned at least one poem.


Leslie Mc Bain, looking for feedback from Rhonda Ganz, whose reflection you can see in the mirror, and Pat


Yvonne Blomer and Cynthia Woodman Kerkham talking poems


In the evenings we read poems to each other. One night Patrick Lane, our fearless leader, read some of his work, one night we read a poem of our own, and one night we split into groups and introduced the group to a poet whose words we wanted to share. L-R: Wendy Morton, Pat Smekal, Judith Heron, Lisa Shatzky, Heidi Garnett, David Fraser and Rhonda Ganz


Karen Chester


David Fraser


Isa Milman


Leanne McIntosh


Daniel G. Scott


Lisa and Heidi


Patrick and Cynthia, listening


Lovely Wendy, who's responsible for just about everything

These boots are made for beach walks (and for gardening in the rain, which is what I'll be doing after I finish this post!)


Finally, a link to a poem of mine, A Good Place to Start, that was featured on YourDailyPoem at the beginning of the month. Over and out for this time. Thanks for stopping by.
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2 comments:

Paul and/or Trish said...

enjoyed the read and yes that is a flicker.
Paul Bartlett
Creston bc

Linda Crosfield said...

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment, Paul. And for the confirmation. Linda