Lofoten Images I

Reine.JPG, originally uploaded by rangerteper.

Can words add anything?

Technorati Tags: Norway

Lofoten

We hear the music of the spheres:
    Earth tilts away, and the sun dips
behind the mountains earlier each day,
    rises later from the sea.

Gulls fall silent then slip
    away in the gathering dark.
Fishermen prepare seines and boats
    for the long night-days trailing
fruitful lines in the maelstrom.

Their eyes tell you that soon
    the only sunlight they will see
must reflect first off moon and snow.

Technorati Tags: Norway, Poetry

On vacation...

Tomorrow, I head out for three weeks in lovely Denmark and Norway, where I will meet up with my good friends Rus, Paula (whom I will be meeting for the first time but who is a dear, dear friend nonetheless), Helm, Carol, hopefully Judy (though we haven't heard from her in a while), and our Norwegian host, Aisha. Every time we get together, it's been a blast, and this time will be no different for sure.

In any case, if I don't manage to blog while overseas, I wish you, my dear readers, a great August. I'll post pictures when I get back.

Technorati Tags: Norway, Poetry, Vacation

Two Years!

Today marks two years of FFTMC. Hard to believe, I know. It's also my nephew's 8th birthday today, whatever that strange little coincidence means.

Anyway, to celebrate (or start you laughing with derision, or simply to drive you away never to return), here is my first post, once again, in all its glory.

Graffiti

Lost in a crowd
I feel the secret thrill
of the middle aged
walking through in the bad
end of town in daylight

"Don't be scared
it's only street art"
scrawled on a wall
bikers and hookers
smiling at me

I'm not scared, oh no
just getting old
so I start a blog
maybe go to a rave tonight
drop some E

(or does "drop" apply only to acid?)
A better and cheaper solution
than buying a Ferrari
maybe buy a can of spraypaint
spray this on a wall

maybe need some editing though
I know I won't anyway
nor drop the E
but starting a blog
harmless fun, no?

Technorati Tags: Blogging, Poetry, Anniversaries

Robin Robertson

Thanks to my good friend Carol and the Canadian poetry journal Arc, I recently discovered Scottish poet Robin Robertson. Arc is running a series of "introductions" as part of a Scottish-Canadian poetry exchange, and Robertson is the July feature. This is a fine, well-written introduction to his work, but Carol, who is an extraordinarily insightful reader of poetry, has also contributed a fine post on Robertson on her blog.

The Arc article mention's Robertson's poem "Wedding the Locksmith's Daughter", which is a wonderfully musical, dark and erotic love poem. But I guess to describe it as a mere "love poem" is to do it an injustice (even though I have always felt that love, viewed by so many as an inappropriate topic for the modern poet, is still the purest motivation for poetry I can think of), since the poem works on so many levels: the physicality of erotic love; the perfect, complementary mesh of two minds ("Sunk home, the true key slots into its matrix"); the ecstasy of text and music finding their perfect matches ("the the way the sung note snibs on meaning/ and holds"); how the lines of a poem can fit together with such ease to produce such a rich picture (Dactyls, iambics —/ the clinch of words — the hidden couplings/ in the cased machine").

I need to get ahold of Robertson's books and study them. Here is a poet who, in the few poems that I have read, speaks to me in a way that I have only experienced with writers like Robert Frost, Elisabeth Bishop and Jane Kenyon.

Thanks Carol!

Technorati Tags: Poetry, Poetry Journals, Robin Roberston, Scottish Poetry

Canoe Quest

People who know me know I'm a canoe nut. So when a friend of mine pointed me to this very cool site--Jay's Great Canadian Canoe Quest--I knew I had to blog it. This guy is paddling solo through Canada's vast Boreal forest along one of the old voyageur routes to raise money for CPAWS, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society.

The guy is courageous and strong, and he seems to know what he's doing. He built the canoe himself, and it's gorgeous!. He's already travelled well over 2000 km, but still has a ways to go before he reaches the Arctic Ocean. At this point, I think the last part of his trip is going to be cool (as in brrrrrr.).

Jay is keeping a journal, which has an RSS feed (here). I know I'll be following this with interest. It has been a long-time dream of mine to travel Canada's north. This summer, I'll get to at least travel north of the Arctic Circle for the first time, albeit in Norway, but one day, I really want to see some the vast wilderness that is northern Canada.

Technorati Tags: Canoeing, Canada

Interesting lecture by Katherine Barber

Katherine Barber, editor of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary and often referred to as Canada's word lady, recently gave a half-hour lecture entitled Six Words You Never Knew Had Something to Do with Pigs for the TV Ontario series Big Ideas, a TV program dedicated to the art of the lecture. Fortunately, for those of us, me included, who do not live in Ontario, the program also offers the audio portion of its broadcasts as a podcast. Barber's lecture--the title of which is also the title of her new book--is a brief but fascinating trip through the history of the English language. She's funny in a geeky sort of way, and she provides some really interesting examples of how and why English is such a strange and wonderful language. You can download the audio file (about 13 MB) here. I highly recommend it.

I also recommend the Big Ideas podcast itself (subscribe in iTunes here or get the XML feed here). The program has featured a wide range of speakers (including such notables as Steven Pinker and Bill Clinton) on a variety of topics. It's almost always a worthwhile listen.

Technorati Tags: Podcast Review, Podcasting, English

A couple of poetry sites well worth a visit.

The first is the Poem of the Week site of Canada's poet laureate (the position currently being filled by Pauline Michel). A wealth of fine Canadian poetry here for the reading. My only grip is that it doesn't seem to have an RSS feed. I sent a comment about that to the contact e-mail address. We'll see where that leads.

The second is the very cool Quickmuse site. Sure, it's poetry's answer to speed dating, think of that what you may. And though I suppose the process can be manipulated somewhat, it is undeniably cool to watch a poem come into being one second at a time.

The end of an era

I go away for a few days fishing and stuff HAPPENS! Our cute little chick with a mohawk has turned into a bonafide gangly teenager. I knew they grew fast, but this is ridiculous.

I took this picture this morning, and by this afternoon, S. and I had become a couple of empty-nesters. Either the little guy fell out of the nest to his doom or he fledged successfully (I'm hoping the latter, of course) and is now trailing after his parents begging for food and possibly the keys to the car.

Technorati Tags: Birds, Robin

Gone fishing...

According to recent CBC story, Quebec's mosquito population is currently three times it's normal size and exceedingly hungry because of our cool spring thus far.

This unfortunate situation coincides with my annual spring fishing trip, which starts tomorrow morning at 6 a.m.

I write this to inform you that I won't be blogging for the next few days. If you don't hear anything for a week, you might possibly assume that I ended up as the main course of a black fly feast, but I hope to return triumphantly with a cooler full of trout. Last year will be hard to beat, when I caught a 5.5 lb speckled (I swear it's not photoshopped ;-)

In the meantime, I give you a recent poem, composed in happier times (i.e., before the black fly and mosquito larvae hatched).

Winter Wren

Perhaps jealous of the sound—a rivulet trickling
down to wash stones and fallen branches—
the winter wren sings its spring digs,
a tangled rising-and-falling in the brush.

I stop and listen, feeling every moment
the trill must soon stop—surely this
small brown creature cannot go on so,
drowning out the stream; it must be all lungs.

It does end, of course, and the sublime eternal
duet of water and earth emerges in the ensuing
quiet, seeming to pick up where the bird trails off,
dipping up and down over moss and twig.

The wren again inhales damp May air;
it cannot sing forever, though it will die trying.

Technorati Tags: CBC, Poetry, Fishing

Fratricide?

A couple of days ago, I peeked into the nest and was saddened to see only one chick left, plus the unhatched egg (which was finally booted out today on to our patio). The surviving chick's two siblings either died of the heat (we had some unusually warm weather for May), starved to death, or the biggest chick pushed the others out of the nest. In any case, yesterday I looked in the grass below the nest and sure enough found the two dead chicks, only slightly putrified (thank god!).

And then there was one... This little guy seems pretty vigorous though and is growing fast. So far, these tenants aren't as messy as I thought they would be, owing to the parent's disgusting habit of... well, if you saw the video, you know what I'm talking about. But hey, if it keeps the deck clean, who am I to complain?

Technorati Tags: Birds, Robin

Sidewalk translation

In the comments to my previous post, meb kindly gave me permission to translate her ephemeral cinémotscope #3. We had some serious rain yesterday, so this piece is undoubtedly nothing more than random bits of chalk floating through the Montreal sewer system right now. Ironic how much crap gets published these days, but this little gem ends up--literally!--in the gutter.

As is usually the case, it sounds better (flip-flops and all) in its original version. If you haven't yet done so, I highly recommend watching the video, since that's all that's left (sniff).

DRAWING YOUR VOICE
--by meb

Write around the holes
Between the lines of others
While out for a walk
See in the letters
Proof of one’s
own fingers
A drawing of things
Undrawable

Technorati Tags: Poetry, Poésie, Translation, Montreal

Sidewalk poetry

Over at the blog of fellow Montreal poet MEB is the latest in her installment of Cinémotscopes. It's in French and I wouldn't presume to translate it without her permission (if you read this, MEB, let me know if I can, or point me to your own translation for my pretty much unilingual anglophone readership). But even if you don't read French, the sound of her flip-flops as she pans over the poem is very cool and worth a look in and of itself.

The landlords are perverts...

...spying on their tenants, even taking videos of their most intimate moments, such as when they eat the excrement of their children (toward the end of the video). Hey, who said nature is pretty. Hope you didn't just eat. You've been warned

Lodgers... the saga continues

So three of the four eggs hatched last Wednesday and this is what they looked like. Basically little balls of fluff. But it's amazing how fast these little creatures grow. Almost literally before your eyes.

The parents are not very happy with their landlords, I suspect, as we are very nosy and noisy, especially with the warm weather of late. But if you sit quietly on the deck and don't move too much, they will eventually come and feed the young.


As you can see (pic 2), now that the little buggers have grown a bit, they've taken to sporting Mohawks, as the young folk are wont to do. I wonder if the parents don't think it's a little early for such experimentation. Likely they're just relieved they haven't gone in for tattoos and nose rings.


As I mentioned, the parents are not to happy with us and are not above giving us the evil eye (pic 3). Our revenge is to hang our laundry on the line. It's pretty funny to see them trying to keep their balance on the clothesline as we move it out.

Technorati Tags: Flicker

A few poetry links...

I was away last weekend and so was not around to read the article on Internet poetry by Frank Wilson of the Philadelphia Inquirer when it came to press. As Rus Bowden has mentioned on several occasions, Frank is a great friend of on-line poetry, and his blog, Books, Inq. is a good read for bookworms and has recently become an on-line poetry clearinghouse as well.

People who know me, know I'm a big fan of podcasting, so I thought I'd point to a few recent podcasts I have taken in that have dealt with poetry. (BTW, contrary to popular belief, you don't need an iPod--or even an mp3 player for that matter--to listen to a podcast. You can just download the file to your computer and listen to it there if you so desire.)

The excellent CBC program Ideas now has a podcast: The Best of Ideas Podcast. The most recent program features three short interviews with poets Billy Collins, Bruce Meyer and Sheldon Zitner on the uses, the sound, and the meaning of poetry. Worth a listen, especially for the Collins and Zitner interviews. (Download the mp3 file here; subscribe to the RSS feed here; subscribe in iTunes here.)

The Bionic Genius Roundtable. I don't listen to this podcast regularly, but they did an amusing interview with Billy Collins last month (it was BC's first ever appearance on a podcast). (Download the mp3 file here; subscribe to the RSS feed here; subscribe in iTunes here.)

Let me know what you think of these, and if you know of any others, I'd love to hear about them.

Technorati Tags: CBC, Podcasting, Poetry

The poetry of hockey

OK, the title is just to legitimize my posting this in my artsy blog, but since nobody is reading my brilliant piece over on Newsvine, I thought I'd post it here too.

Just so you know what you're getting into when you click (and you will click, won't you?), it's a piece on the real reason fans of the Edmonton Oilers (a hockey team for the uninitiated) are so happy their team is doing well in the playoffs.

Technorati Tags: Hockey, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames, NHL, Stanley Cup

Temporary lodger

Spring appears to be manifesting itself in unusual ways this year. In my friend Rus Bowden's hometown of Lowell, MA, the Merrimack is flooding its banks. Luckily, Rus hasn't had to break out the scuba gear just yet (or else he wouldn't have been able to bring us the latest installment of Poetry & Poets in Rags). On the other hand, they're forecasting 30 Celsius tomorrow in Calgary, where my sister lives.

Here in Montreal, however, we've had typical rainy May weather. Maybe that's why this robin decided to build her nest under our covered patio. I think she'll be in for a shock once the weather warms up, though. It's going to get warm up there. And there'll be a lot more coming and going too, with S. and me parading back and forth to the pool, and barbecuing and whatnot. I hope she will get used to it.

I have a funny feeling she's going to be a messy, noisy tenant once her kids hatch. Maybe I should have insisted on a damage deposit.

Spring is a beautiful thing

magnolia
Originally uploaded by rangerteper.

We planted this magnolia a few years after we bought our house. After 7 or 8 years, it's finally hitting its stride. This is what it looked like in our back yard this afternoon.

Technorati Tags: Flicker, Magnolia

Poetry and Poets in Rags

My good friend Rus Bowden, who for the last several years has compiled Poetry and Poets in Rags, diligently prowling cyberspace to bring poetry lovers the latest news about poetry and poets, has just started up a companion blog. The nice thing about it is that you can leave comments and start a discussion, something that isn't really possible on the IBPC site.

And now I find that he's included my site in his blogroll, which is both nice of him and a little scary because now I might actually have to start posting poetry on a regular basis, instead of silly posts about strange trombones and other arcane blog fodder.

Technorati Tags: Poetry, Blogging, IBPC

Eternal Spring

Two lovers in a fortunate clearing
of a lost wood, white bodies
blossoming in the sun's warmth.
She arches back onto his arm,
kissing him as he leans down.


Among their tangled limbs, white
and yellow blossoms open, the buds
having arched out of a January abyss,
to be kissed by the sun, which leans
down closer with each passing day.

Technorati Tags: Poetry

Hot Cross Buns

I don't give a rat's ass about Easter and all that, but food is definitely a topic to warm my heart. However, since hot cross buns are related to Easter, and that originally pagan celebration is fast approaching, it seems appropriate to post a recipe for my favourite Easter comfort food. Loyal FFTMC readers will recall my love of sweet breads (not to be confused with sweetbread) from my previous post of a recipe for panettone. This recipe is also inspired from Breads by Sharon Tyler Herbst.



Hot cross buns
1 tbsp (1 package) dry yeast
3 tbsp sugar
1/3 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter (melted and cooled)
1 tsp orange zest
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
3/4 tsp salt
3 to 3-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup currants or raisins
1/4 cup of a whatever various candied fruits you can find
1 egg yolk mixed with water for glaze

Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1 tsp of the sugar. Let stand until foamy. Add remaining sugar, milk eggs, butter, orange zest, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, salt and half the flour. Beat until smooth (or your arm gets tired, whichever comes first). Mix in the currants and candied fruit, then add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead dough for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding a little flour from time to time to prevent sticking. Place dough in a bowl in a warm place free from draughts and cover with a damp cloth. Let rise for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled.

Grease a large baking sheet. Punch down the dough and divide it into 15 or 16 pieces and form into balls. Space the balls evenly on the baking sheet and cover with cloth and let stand another hour or so (sometimes a bit longer), until doubled again.

Preheat oven to 350F (175C). Use a sharp knife to score a shallow cross (or the pagan symbol of your choice) into the buns and brush egg-yolk glaze over buns. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. If you like, you can drizzle some frosting into the scores, but you'll have to find your own recipe for that.

Enjoy.

Technorati Tags: hot cross buns, panettone, Sweetbread, Easter

It was 21 degrees in Montreal today, March 31, 2006. A little taste of the summer to come, I hope, and not a moment too soon. I actually managed to get some work done this morning, but this afternoon, I said "fuck it" and went for a bike ride.

When S. came home from work, I drove down to the grocery story to get some ground beef and we had hamburgers on the BBQ for supper. The patio door was open, and it didn't get really dark till about 7.

The main indication that it isn't summer was that our pool looked like this:



I fear the next few months are going to be long. S. is talking about getting a solar heater for the pool, which means if we're lucky, we could be swimming by mid-May. What do you think; am I dreaming in colour?

Technorati Tags: Summer, Montreal

Second FreeMacWare contest entry

As many FFTMC readers will know, I love my Mac and run a separate blog for my Mac- and Internet-related blogging. But the lure of filthy lucre has made me cross the line this one time. A great website I frequent called FreeMacWare is running a contest in which entrants post five pieces of freeware they use on their Macs. The winner gets a $100 iTunes gift certificate. Now the site is offering a free iTunes song for every entry, and since the contest allows separate entries for separate blogs, I'll take this opportunity to mention some less sexy--but no less useful--Mac freeware. Just so you know, I feel no shame in inflicting this on my non-geek readers. Suckers for punishment can see my first entry here. The theme for this second entry is apps that do one thing but do it well (DOTBDIW--just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?).

• First up is Monolingual: a DOTBDIW application that every Mac user, especially those on older machines or with smaller hard drives, will find useful. It removes the OS X language localizations you don't need, thereby saving approximately 2 Gb of disc space. If your HD is 40 Gb or less, that means a significant increase in space.
  
• Another DOTBDIW app is CoconutBattery. It lets you know how well (or poorly) your laptop battery is aging. Simple but effective, and attractive too.
  
• If you've ever had a hard disc fail, then you are probably already worrying about the next failure (and if you've never had one, don't kid yourself--it WILL happen some day). This is where SMART reporter comes in. It launches when you log in and monitors your hard drive for imminent failure. The little green hard drive image in your menu bar means everything is reassuringly fine (for now). If it goes red, back up your critical files immediately. (You do back up all your non-critical files on a regular basis, right?)
  
• Sticking with the DOTBDIW theme, Address Book Exporter does one thing. Can you guess what it is? If you want to import your Address Book entries to Gmail or Yahoo Mail, or to any number of other services, then you will need this application first.
  
• And finally, MacStumbler is a great little app that scans for wireless networks within range of your AirPort card. It even tells you if the network is open or protected. Invaluable for those long road trips when getting on-line is essential.
  

  
  And there you have it. Rest assured that I'll try to resist the evil power of contests in future (not that it will do me any good).

Technorati Tags: Apple, Blogging, Contest, Filthy lucre, Mac, Software

The low-brass story of the decade

I'm linking to an AP article posted on Newsvine about the first female tuba player to win a job with a top-five US orchestra. Carol Jantsch is only 21 and not even out of college. Unbelievable. Here's another article from philly.com (with one of the best headlines I've seen in a long time), which also includes a link to a sample of her playing... Astonishing!

As a trombonist who has witnessed my fair share of discrimination against female tuba players, including the girl who played in my brass quintet at McGill--one of the most musical brass players in the faculty at the time--I get a real kick out of this. You go girl indeed!

Technorati Tags: Brass, Music, Philadelphia Orchestra, Classical Music, Tuba

The dogfart trombone

I recently learned about an alternative to the stunningly useful Web 2.0 resource that is Wikipedia. It's called Uncyclopedia, and it's basically a take-off of Wikipedia, with satirical and parody articles on everything from politics to music.

I'm not sure what I expected when I searched for "trombone" (regular FFTMC readers will recall that the names you can call the author of this blog include "trombonist"). So I was pleasantly and hilariously surprised to find this article describing a heretofore little-known (and I dare say under-appreciated) instrument called the dogfart trombone.

I won't spoil the ending; I'd rather let you discover all the marvelous details for yourself. You can thank me later.

Technorati Tags: Music, Satire, Uncyclopedia, Wikipedia, trombone

Just because

Technorati Tags: Orchid

Memoires vives

Feuilles mortes qui tombent
mais ne touchent jamais
le sol, ces souvenirs jaunes novembre
pétillent autour de moi, me rendant ainsi
un faucon taciturne et sans ailes.


Partir? Je ne veux pas. Comment tourner
le dos aux eaux vives du Saint-Laurent
coulant vers l’est? Louis Cyr saurait peut-être
comment le détourner à l’ouest, mais comme toi
il n’est plus là.


C’est pour moi donc cette grande plaine d’Alberta,
vaste inconnu sans fleuve, sans feuille,
sans même un arbre solitaire veillant sur une butte.
Ce sont pour moi ces longues hivers noirs au grands vents
où je vais prier—oui, je te prierai—
qu’un jour l’un de ces feuilles remonte le courant
du passé et redonne à ma vie un brin de couleur.


Mais pas tout de suite. Il faut que je t’oublie un peu
pour mieux un jour me souvenir de toi.

Technorati Tags: Poésie, Poetry

Now THIS is a great idea!

I just came across the blog of the Monreal poet Meb (for Marie-Eve Bouchard), who has posted what she calls a cinemotscope--a nice play on words in French that translates roughly to "motion picture word filming." And there you have it, I have just given new meaning to the term "rough translation."

You can see her initial cinemotgraphic effort here, a haiku. I, for one, will be keeping an eye on this blog. She's reading tomorrow in Montreal with some other poets, including, my friend Maxianne Berger (who usually has the audience rolling in the aisles). Unfortunately, I am otherwise occupied, so I won't be able to go.

Here's to Norwegians

If you're Canadian or Norwegian, you probably already have heard this story about Olympic generosity, but I thought I'd post it here in honour of my Norwegian friend Shisa, whose lovely country I will be visiting this summer.

Finland vs. Sweden = Habs vs. Leafs

On Sunday, the Finns and the Swedes play for Olympic gold in men's hockey. And while no one would have predicted that Canada (or the US, for that matter) would be knocked out of the medal round altogether, there is still a Canadian connection to the gold-medal game (let's face it, there always is).

Sweden is captained by Mats Sundin, who also captains the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs. Finland is captained by Saku Koivu, who captains the NHL's Montreal Canadiens. Neither player has won a major tournament, whether it be the Stanley Cup, World Cup or Olympic gold. That will change for one of them on Sunday. Both men are veterans known for their blue-collar work ethic and white-collar scoring touch; both have gone through rough spots due to injury and/or illness (with Koivu beating cancer a few years back); both are very much deserving of a gold medal.

So for Canadian hockey fans, the Finland-Sweden match up essentially boils down to a Montreal-Toronto game, though to make it more realistic, it should be held about 12 hours earlier, on Saturday night rather than early Sunday morning.

As a Montrealer and Habs fan, I'm rooting for Finland. I think a gold medal would do wonders for Koivu's confidence and silence some of his critics, who say he doesn't have what it takes to captain a championship team. I've never believed it, and watching this Finnish team play during the Olympic tournament has only confirmed my feelings that Koivu's not at fault for the Canadien's recent woes. He simply needs a team that is willing to follow his lead; the Habs' current crop of over-paid whiners simply won't.

Go Habs--er... Finns--Go!.

February 22, 2106

Ungainly as a rock-bound iguana,
my once sleek, bird-like body
sits rusting in a barren red field,
my ghost free to roam the open road,
terror of the empty earth.

My good friend Paula, kind soul, is handing out daisies. Unfortunately, Montreal is going through a relative cold snap, so all I have to offer is some St. Lawrence River ice.

This just in: same old same old

Stephen Harper was sworn in today as Canada's new PM. You remember Stephen, don't you? The guy who ran on a platform of accountability. The guy who--like all aspirants challenging a party that has been in power a while--made the most of the issues of government corruption and cronyism (as Cretien did so well in demolishing Mulroony's Conservatives in the 1988 campaign).

So what is the first thing he does as Canada's new head honcho? He appoints Michael Fortier Minister of Public Works, a portfolio that controls billions of dollars of Canadian taxpayers' dollars. Who is Michael Fortier, you ask? Why none other than Harper's co-chair in Quebec during his campaign to become Conservative party leader. What riding does he represent? Well, that's where Mr. Harper has some explaining to do. You see, Fortier didn't run in the last election. Our illustrious leader had to appoint him to the Senate so he could take on the porfolio. Isn't that the same Stephen Harper who said he'd never make a Senate appointment for purely political reasons?

But wait, there's more. Harper also appointed David Emerson as Minister of International Trade. At first glance, it looks like a great choice because Emerson is one of the few people in Harper's new cabinet who has any previous cabinet experience. But there's one small problem with this picture. Emerson's experience came as Minister of Industry in Paul Martin's cabinet, and last time I checked, Paul Martin was a Liberal PM. How is this possible, you ask? Simple. Emerson pulled a Stronach (in other words, he crossed the floor, defected, changed sides, turned traitor--you get the picture). Seems to me I remember a whole bunch of Conservatives making a whole lot of political hay (not to mention tasteless insults) when Belinda Stronach crossed the floor to join Martin's cabinet.

So, we have a public works minister wielding boatloads of our cash but who doesn't have to answer for it in the house because he's not elected, and we have an international trade minister who, after winning his seat as a Liberal in the last election and saying he would be a thorn in Harper's side, is now at Harper's side, but not exactly as a thorn. So much for making government more accountable and frowning on opportunism (or was that what they meant by "Standing up for Opportunity").

Throw in the fact that only six of the 27-member the cabinet are women (22 whole percent), and you have a fine first day as PM. Nice start Mr. Harper. Where do we go from here?

Go Girl

I just love this story. I would love to have been a fly on the wall in whatever hole these two idiots crawled into after getting taken out by a 15-year-old girl.

IDIOT # 1: (nose swollen and bleeding) "Whad da fug was dad?!"

IDIOT #2: (rubbing shoulder and walking around trying to shake off the dull ache in his balls) "I dunno man, maybe some kind of superhero. Y'know, like Cat Woman, or Super Woman?"

IDIOT #1: "Well, dads the lass dime I'm listening do one of your bride ideas, you fug!"

IDIOT #2: "How the fuck was I supposed to know the kid could fight!"

IDIOT #1: "Nex dime, leds juss pick someone older, K?"

IDIOT #2: "But not someone with a walker. Those things are lethal, man."

At last, a story I can proudly post on both my blogs

Apparently, some dude is developing a "smart" poetry fridge magnet . They're not available yet, but they look like a sure fire way to get me out of my poetry doldrums. On the other hand, I think I'd get bored with writing poetry in front of the fridge pretty quickly. Not hungry, but bored.

[via Engadget]

American Idol, Canadian Hero? I think not.

I don't know what came over me, but this evening, I watched about 15 minutes of American Idol. But I forgive myself. I'm cured. I honestly don't understand why people watch the show, especially these early audition rounds. But what I don't understand even more is how the judges (what are their names again?) sit through days and days of idiots trying to sing bad pop songs. I think I would turn suicidal after a few days of it. And they're into what, year four? You couldn't pay me enough.

I'm dead serious.

Last night, I watched for several hours as my fellow Canadians elected a Conservative minority government. New minority government, different party. The only thing that has really changed is the name of the leader. How long will this parliament will last? Two years, tops. Just in time for another Quebec referendum.

Maybe I'll go back to watching American Idol after all.

Jay

Breast feathers veil
clasping feet
snow lightly as down
You, jay, perch in a willow
look straight ahead
look side to side
ready to fly into
grey sky in an instant
but you wait there
like a camera shy model
until the lens is pointed elsewhere

RIP, Irving Layton

One of Canada's great poets has died at the age of 93. He'd been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for many years and so hadn't written anything for a very long time. But when you speak of the great Canadian poets, he was near the top--if not at the top--of the list.

The CBC website is running a good obit.
Also, visit the Irving Layton website.

I was never a huge fan of his writing--prefering the simpler (and to my mind more elegant) work of Fred Cogswell, and the more subtle humour of Al Purdy--but I have to admit that he paved the way for so many of today's fine young Canadian poets.

In recent memory, Maurice Richard (hockey player) and Pierre Trudeau (former PM) both recieved lavish state funerals at Montreal's Notre Dame Cathedral attended by numerous dignitaries. For both, there were long line-ups to file pass their caskets. Somehow, I doubt a mere poet will rate such treatment.

We are now a two-iPod family!

I suppose this could equally go in my other blog (not-so-shameless plug), but since it follows directly from my last blogpost, I figure the legions of FFTMC regulars will appreciate it more than the hoards of STA readers who have been filling my in-box clamouring for another post (patience, grasshopper(s)).

Yes, I'm back from sunny snowy Cleveland. I think it snowed every day I was there, and me, naively thinking that travelling somewhat south would translate to somewhat warmer weather. When I left this morning at 6 a.m., there was a good 18 inches of snow on the ground. Here in Montreal, it's bloody cold, but there's comparatively little snow. To put a positive spin on it all, at least I now know first hand what "lake effect" snow means.

The gig went well, though it simply dragged on forever--a gruelling week, what with the rehearsals, five concerts, four recording sessions, along with various and sundry translation projects squeezed in here and there while sipping at Starbucks (where, if you sat near the front window, you could pick up an open network nearby. Thankyou Mr. or Ms. linksys, whoever you are). Now I have to resume work on a big project that's supposed to be finished by Christmas. Any bets on whether I can translate 40,000+ words in two weeks?

But despite all the work in Cleveland (flog flog) I did manage to make my first trip ever to an Apple Store, where I picked up a sexy black iPod Nano for S.--a combined embarassingly late birthday present and compensation for being left alone for eight days. I figured she would like it--even if it did smack of Fred Flintstone buying Wilma a bowling ball for Christmas--but, to my great surprise (and perhaps somewhat to her own), she's absolutely thrilled. I have to admit, they're nice little units, but even if I wanted to, I doubt she'd let me use it much anyway.

The best thing about being home, aside from seeing S. again, is a home-cooked meal. I'm just not built for life on the road.

Road trip

I'm not sure how much blogging I'll do for the next week or so (not that I'm posting like a fiend anyway) since I'm off to Cleveland for 8 days tomorrow morning to play and record a Christmas Vespers program with Apollo's Fire. Hidden somewhere on the site is my bio, which I hope Rebecca Loudon doesn't feel is too long.

Anyway, my flight leaves at 6 AM, which means I have to leave for the airport by about 4 AM. Tonight's going to be an early night, so please don't try to call after 9.

With any luck, I'll be able to find some free wireless and maybe post an update on the gig. If not, à bientôt.

Tropical flies in resin,
dead leaves frozen in ice,
escape is an Arctic dream:
Resolute drifting unmanned out
Lancaster Sound and into Davis Strait,
finding her way unmindful of berg,
rock or lee shore.

Chance finds you
reborn a year/century/age later:
lady's slipper,
presidential desk,
amber necklace.

Morning is the joy of crowing
the joy that crows
the crowing joy

Crowing is the joy of morning
the joy that mourns
the morning joy

Morning is the crow of joying
the crow that joys
the joying crow

Joy is the crow of morning
the crow that mourns
the morning crow

The Marriage of Art and Gaming

Just discovered a strange "game" that is as unsettling as it is addictive and intriguing. AND it's really hard. I have yet to crack it and I'm not sure I'll be able to. Have a go if you're bored and want to kill some time.

[Via The Robservatory]

100 books you should read (if you call yourself a real Canadian)

The Literary Review of Canada today released a list of what it feels are the one hundred most important books in Canada. In many ways, it's a surprising list, but I have to say that most of them are probably pretty good choices (and I've read 'em all, believe you me!).

Strangely enough, when I heard about the list, the first book to pop into my head was Neuromancer by William Gibson. I was doubtful that a science fiction novel would make it, so when I saw it there, at number 77 (the books are listed in chronological order), I was suitably impressed. Other books that should be there and are, are Dennis Lee's Alligator Pie and Leonard Cohen's The Spice-box of Earth (was that really written way back in 1961!). On the other hand, why was Howie Meeker's Hockey Basics there, rather than Ken Dryden's The Game? Do the editors really think that we have Howie Meeker to thank for the NHL's current crop of millionaires? (Actually, I'll admit that I haven't read either, but by all accounts, Dryden's book is a classic; a 20th anniversary edition was published a few years back, and its on my "to read" list.)

I was also a little surprised to see only one book by Pierre Berton. I’ve blogged about Berton before; he was one of Canada’s best and most prolific writers, and a masterful storyteller. More than any other writer I can think of, Berton taught Canadians about their own country. The Last Spike certainly deserves to be on the list, but so do a number of his other works, such as The Arctic Grail. The oversight is even more glaring when one considers that two other contemporary writers, Mordecai Richler and Margret Atwood, got two mentions each. I can see A Handmaiden's Tale and The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, but Survival and Solomon Gurskey? Give me a break. If you ask me, Richler's best novel was Barney's Version, but obviously, they didn't (ask me, that is). Maybe Berton only got one spot because he didn't write novels. What a shame.

I'll end by mentioning two fantastic novels that did make the list: The Stone Angel, by Margaret Laurence, and Two Solitudes, by Hugh MacLennan. The former is one of the great Canadian novels of the 20th century; and if you've ever been to Quebec and wondered why it is the way it is, read the latter.

Big Country Continuum

Horses glide across a November
prairie: in their wake, dead
leaves roil like lost souls
across imaginary lines in books.

No one counts them, relegated
as they are to mere seasonhood,
and though each bears a face—
voiceless.

Putain que c'est bon!

Now that winter is fast approaching, it's time to make a batch of one of my favourite pasta sauces: puttanesca. I'm told that the name for this sauce comes from the Italian word for "whore": puttana, and I assume this name comes from the fact that the sauce is "quick and easy". (Maybe my Italian friend Paula can tell me If this etymology is correct.)

Allusions to prostitutes aside, it's true that a quicker or easier sauce to prepare would be hard to find. Eight ingredients that you basically throw together, let simmer and voilà, you've got a VERY tasty sauce that's perfect for those cool autumn evenings. A word of warning: a little of this sauce goes a long way. Enjoy it over your favourite pasta with a glass of robust red wine. You can also freeze it and reheat it later, and you'll find that it's even better the second time around. Here's the recipe I use. It's a tripling of a recipe a friend gave me so it makes quite a bit.

Olive oil
garlic
2 onions (sautéd)
1 large jar of capres (drained)
3 tins of anchovy fillets (rinced and chopped)
1 can of chopped black olives (drained)
1 large can of diced tomatoes
1 can of tomato paste
1 1/2 cups of red wine.
basil (to taste)

buon appetito

Glad THAT's over

Well, avid FFTMC readers will be happy to know that the "Tuba Mirum" solo in the Requiem went pretty well. These things are never perfect, but I'm reasonably satisfied, especially given the circumstances. To tell the truth, I'm just happy I didn't crap all over it (to use a brass-player's turn of phrase).

I have to say, however, that life's getting a bit too short for this, or I'm getting too old--or both. This gig didn't pay nearly enough and/or the conductor was entirely too clueless for it to be truly enjoyable.

And next time, I'm taking real beta blockers. The bananas had no discernable effect.

Bananas about Mozart

Tomorrow afternoon, I perform in the Mozart Requiem with a local ensemble. It has probably been 8 or 9 years since I last played it; maybe more. It's a challenging piece for trombones: lots of technical playing, lots of delicate playing--lots of playing period. Oh, and it has a major tenor trombone solo, probably one of the hardest in the orchestral repertoire for tromone. The reason it is hard is not that it's high or technical. No, it's hard because it's so unlike what trombones usually play. We, the trombone section, usually play a supporting role and are rarely in the limelight, and that's the way we like it. But the "Tuba Mirum" solo is a melodic, legato obligato part over a bass solo--the kind of part that oboists play in their sleep. But for trombone players, it's really tough.

On top of all this, we're playing at "Classical" pitch of A=430, and we're playing sackbuts (which, incidentally, is rather dubious performance practice, since trombones, though smaller than the modern instrument, had definitely evolved beyond the sackbut by Mozart's time). As my grandfather was wont to say, "everything for your inconvenience."

The first rehearsal was not pretty. I was so nervous for the solo it's a wonder I was able to keep the mouthpiece on my face. It's been a long time since I felt that shaky. It didn't help that the bass soloist was not there. But the second rehearsal went better, and today, at the dress, it went pretty well, so I'm feeling pretty good for tomorrow.

I'm told bananas have natural beta blockers in them, so I'll be making out like a monkey tomorrow afternoon.

Write like Jane AustinAusten (Jeez... how embarassing)

Fellow blogger portuguesa nova (aka, The Anchored Nomad) pointed me to the site of Pia Frauss, who has created a free font resembling Jane Austen's handwriting. (Unfortunately, it doesn't come with a built-in spell checker.) From reading her description, it sounds like she put a fair amount of thought and work into it, and I must say it's kind of cool. On the other hand, if you're going to write like Jane Austen, you should probably use a fountain pen instead of a keyboard (BTW, Aish, we're still waiting for that poem that's a very cool poem). Or perhaps a real quill (I hope they get this site up and running soon).

Anyway, more discussion about the Jane Austen font on that other blog.

New Blog

I just created a sister blog to FFTMC called Singing the Apple. As you might have guessed, it's a blog about computers (can you hear the groans?). I guess I didn't want to sully this one. Check it out. Or not. Ha!

PS. You may also have noticed that I have come out of hiding. Yes, I am now using my un-anagramed pseudonym, along with a self-portrait cum death mask I made out of clay a while back; think of it as a step toward sincerity (or insanity--take your pick).

Cloud 42

I just spent the day listening to Level 42. If you listened to popular music in the 80s, you might remember what I'm talking about. The band had a few hits in North America, including "Something About You" and "Lessons in Love." But apparently they were HUGE in Europe. I was doing my bachelor of music degree from 83 to 87, and I remember these tunes as good, but not outstanding. I was mostly interested in playing my trombone back then, including in the U of C jazz band. My jazz buddies in the band all raved about how good Level 42 was, but I didn't really get it.

NOW I get it. What I didn't know back then was that the tunes making the chart were a watered down version of Level 42--tunes written and produced for the pop charts. But the band was originally more of a jazz/funk band. Yesterday, a friend of mine played a Level 42 song that somehow found its way onto his computer (better not to ask), and I was blown away by what I'd been missing out on for the last 20 years! So I went downtown yesterday and bought a couple of their early CDs, and it was like an epiphany.

The band leader, Mark King, is an unbelievable bass player--up there with Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller to my mind. And the band just grooves, song after song. I even downloaded one of their albums from the iTunes Music Store, something I have never done before. So, in two days, the number of Level 42 songs on my iPod goes from 1 to 38. Talk about an infatuation. But I suspect the love affair will last a good long time.

Anyway, I was just bouncing around the house today. If this music doesn't move you, then you might want to check yourself into the morgue. Level 42 completely lifted me out of the blues that have been drifing around the floorboards since the rain started falling 10 days ago. Take THAT nasty weather. I'm on cloud 42.

Laundry Day

“the still unfolded laundry warm as fresh bread in its basket.” -- Rebecca Loudon
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir ;
Valse mélancolique et langoureux vertige ! -- Baudelaire “Harmonie du soir”


Chopin appears in the room,
conjured leisurely out of steam and ether—
languid waltz, melancholy vertigo,
sound and perfume rise in the evening air.

Conjured leisurely out of steam and ether,
her reflection gleams in the dark window;
sound and perfume rise in the evening air
warm as fresh bread in its basket.

Her reflection gleams in the dark window,
sails away from the still unfolded laundry
warm as fresh bread in its basket,
sways back and forth over the keyboard.

Sailing away from the still unfolded laundry—
melancholy waltz, languid vertigo—
swaying back and forth over the keyboard,
Chopin appears in the room.

I've been living with this poem for a while, trying to get a handle on it through translation. It's so funny, you see pictures of Hébert, and she's always smiling--looks like she was a cute little thing. But man oh man, she wrote some weird, funky stuff. I tried to read her novel Les fous de bassin but I couldn't finish it. I like her poetry though. Dark and strange, but some amazing imagery.

The Tomb of the Kings
-Anne Hébert (Translated by yours truly)

My heart is at my hand.
Like a blind falcon.

The taciturn bird grips my fingers,
Lamp swollen with wine and blood,
I descend
Toward the tomb of the kings,
Astonished,
Only just born.

What thread of Ariadne leads me
Through soundless labyrinths?
Each step’s echo consumed as it sounds.

(In what dream
Was this child tied by the ankle
Like a spellbound slave?)

The dream maker
Grasps the thread,
And bare footsteps come
One by one
Like the first raindrops
At the well bottom.

Already, the smell moves in swollen storms
Oozes under doorsteps
To secret, round chambers
Where box beds lie.

Drawn by the reclining figures’ immobile desire,
I look with astonishment
Set into the black bones
Gleam encrusted blue stones.

A few tragedies patiently worked
Upon the breasts of the recumbent kings
In the form of jewels
Are offered to me
With neither tears nor regrets.

Arranged in a line:
Smoke of incense, rice cake
And my trembling flesh:
Ritual, submissive offering.

The gold mask on my absent face
violets for pupils
Love’s shadow disguises me with meticulous strokes
And this bird I have
Breathes
And laments strangely

A long shiver,
Like a wind that catches from tree to tree,
Stirs seven great ebony pharaohs,
In their solemn, ornate sheaths.

What remains is merely the depths of death,
Simulating the last torment
Seeking its appeasement
Its eternity
In a light rattling of bracelets
Vain circles playthings of another place
Around the sacrificed flesh.

Eager for the brotherly source of evil within me
they lay me down and drink me;
Seven times I know the vise of bones
and the dry hand that seeks to rend the heart.

Pale and filled with the awful dream
Limbs untangled
And the dead gone from me, murdered,
What reflection of dawn strays here?
So whence comes this bird, who trembles
And turns towards morning
Its sightless eyes?

Dust Jacket Photograph II (in memoriam J.K.)

Fossils of photons that touched you once then died
on film—a worthy sacrifice, now
captured in printer’s ink and hard stock.

Eyes that left a day dream to focus
on the camera, lids held open by dark
irises, the corners of your mouth
only just north of indifference.

What a presumption to read you,
though life is one long presumption,
the search for meaning in other faces.

Your head, heavy in your hands, the secret
bee ring on your finger climbing
toward the flower of a face
that never really opened into the sunlight.

Teapot saga (conclusion)

So about three weeks ago, I finally bought a new teapot. After hunting high and low for a Brown Betty I finally relented and got the teapot I had seen months ago at The Bay, even though it was only a 6-cupper. Functional and comfortable, but nothing too exciting.

Then, while S. and I were down in Cape Cod, we went into a shop in Chatham called Plymouth Tea and sure enough, they had a Brown Betty. I almost bought it, but the guy convinced me that if I was looking for a no-drip pot, I should go for a Japanese pot. He said the British pots were terrible for dripping, and that the Brown Betty was notorious for it.

So I ended up getting a Beehouse pot (we got the orange model). Part of me wishes I'd got the Brown Betty, but I must say, I love the new one. It's the end of an era, I guess.

Books I bought while on vacation

Evangeline, by Longfellow: A small volume of this "Tale of Acadie" in verse, with a 30-page introduction.

The search for the North West Passage, by Ann Savours: Though I consider Pierre Berton's The Arctic Grail to be the definitive one-volume description of the quest for the passage, this seemed like an interesting book, so I picked it up in a used book store. I've become wary about it's worth, however, after reading the introduction. At the end of it, she quotes the chorus of Stan Rogers' Northwest Passage but then cites it as "Seafarer's song, provenance unknown to me." I'm not sure how much faith I can put in a "researcher" who couldn't put a title and composer to what is probably the most famous song ever written about the Northwest Passage, and one of the most well-known Canadian folk songs of all time. Sheesh!

Constance, by Jane Kenyon. I've always wanted a volume of poetry by Kenyon. I've read some of her work on-line and have been drawn to it. This is a beautiful but haunting book of poems written shortly before her death from leukiemia.

Geography III, by Elisabeth Bishop. A poet I have always admired. Picked this up (along with the two books that follow) in a great used book store in Provincetown, MA (an otherwise tacky place). The poetry section was fantastic. I would have bought a dozen books if not for heroic self-restraint. Some part of me regrets not being weaker. In any case, what a great book this is; cost me all of $4.50. The neat thing was that right beside it, was a first-edition hardcover of the very same book, with a price tag of $95. Thanks, but no thanks.

One Art: Elizabeth Bishop--Letters, selected and edited by Robert Giroux. This is a huge tome I picked up for $10, and for that price, I couldn't pass it up, even though I'll probably never read a lot of it. But I'm a fan of Bishop's, and I'm looking forward to browsing through some of her correspondence, though it'll probably make me feel vaguely like a peeping tom.

Eugene Onegin, by Aleksandr Pushkin, translated by Nabokov. The most famous (and many say the best) translation of Onegin. Again, cheap cheap cheap and in good shape. Saw it new in Boston for four times the price. Too bad the companion volume of Nabokov's commentary wasn't there too. I've always thought it hillarious that the companion volume is more than twice the size of the translation itself. But I'm happy with the mere translation. The fact is, in this book of 334 pages, the translated poem itself only occupies about 220 pages; the rest is introduction and notes. Gotta love that Nabokov. Talk about obsessive!

And finally...

Birdsong: A Natural History, by Don Stap. Birdsong has always fascinated me, and this looks like a really cool book, part travellog, part popular science.

Yesterday, when no one was looking
a rainbow broke free of its arc,
spilt colours into summer sky
releasing clouds from white cages.

Birds swam in strange hues, beat wings
thickly against dripping ink, left
iridescent swirls in their wakes and sang,
mixing paint with music.

Help

Sorry (Paula) I haven't been posting much of late. Very busy with real life. No time for the virtual world. Recent events include the installation of a patio door (a major operation--thankfully my father in-law is a serious handyman) and a canoe trip down the Jacques Cartier River. How I lived in Quebec for 18 years without seeing this truly astounding, breathtaking part of the world only 3 hours from my home, is beyond me. I'll be going back for sure, though some of the rapids will go un-run next time round :-)

Anyway, the following is for some friends who are getting married on Saturday. It needs a title, so any suggestions would be welcome.

[Edit: Thanks to some friends at a warm, welcoming poetry oasis in the virtual desert, I have it]

Epithalamion for M. and P.

The ghosts of our pasts have surely mingled
before our actual acquaintance

even now

our hospital ghosts translucently patrol
hospital corridors together, push along
see-through IV poles, discretely
peek in the room of the woman released
this morning to see the new arrival

in the Scottish fog, our vacation ghosts tramp
toward Loch Lomond, stop to listen to a piper
playing by the roadside, toss a transparent
pound coin into his dampening hat, hoist
a dram with Rob Roy at a pub in Luss

and on a lonely knoll in the St-Bruno hills
our walking ghosts no doubt arranged
for us to meet that day not long ago
as if deciding it was time to share
the collective wonder of our lives

even now

you are old friends we haven’t known for long
but for all the time we spend together

Duet

Water makes its own music

the high hiss of light rain on lake
blood through veins
water striders’ dance on a windless day

shower of applause
for the splake that got away
winter wren laughing with the stream

and snow, piling up on a frozen pond
each flake landing with a cymbal crash

Hibernation

for a week I was a bear running
running across thick blue
ice brain empty of all but blue
ice
sky seals sleeping on
blue ice

after a week I lay on the ice
dreamt of red seas

Musical purgatory

I've long held the admittedly quirky view that there is something about music recording that is an abomination. I've participated in my fair share of recordings--the lure of lucre strong as it is--and have my favourite CDs like most people. But a part of me has always felt that something essential is lost when music is recorded. As if CDs are to music what zombies are to people: sure, they walk and talk, but whatever it is that made them who they were (and I deliberately avoid the word "soul" here) is missing. As if by capturing ephemeral sound waves and transferring them to a hard medium, whence they can be recreated at will, the music has been sent to a sort of purgatory, never to rise or fall as was its destiny. OK, maybe I'm pushing the metaphor here, but you get my point.

All this was brought to the forefront of my mind again after reading Alex Ross's fascinating New Yorker article entitled "The Record Effect", in which he discusses the many and various ways recording has affected not only how we listen to music, but also how it is performed and composed. That article garnered a fair bit of attention, especially regarding the parts where he talks about recording's influence on vibrato. One of those who found the article food for thought was none other than David Byrne.

Byrne, judging by his long and thoughtful response, is a pretty smart guy. His blog post is almost as interesting as Ross's article (though not as well written). But I wanted to cite here a passage that struck a chord with me.

Byrne writes: Probably as a musician I find music either one or the other — completely invisible, inaudible — even sometimes when it’s playing loud — or completely intrusive — impossible to ignore. As a musician there are times when even quiet background music in a bar or restaurant is completely distracting and impossible to ignore. It’s like the effect of having a TV on in room is for most people — it tends to demand attention. All conversation either stops or has to deal with the TV program. Music is like that for musicians.

He also says: "Music is now everywhere. It’s not a special event to hear music as it once was." Which brings me back to the title of this post. Music is everywhere because it's recorded, zombie music. Music has in many ways become merely a soundtrack, creating or enhancing a mood. Most of the time, people don't really listen to it for its own sake. I think part of the reason is that it's zombie music. Yes, a jazz trio in the corner playing lounge music is still considered musique d'ambiance, but I think that's because we've gotten into the habit of not really listening to music. If somehow we woke up tomorrow and all the recordings were gone, I think music--live music, of course, since that's all there would be--would start to demand attention like a TV program does today, and everybody--not just musicians--would find it increasingly hard to tune out because music would be something special, something rare--something that could float up into the heavens, where it belongs.

Gone fishin'

Be back Thursday.

Just one of those days...

...when I feel extraordinarily privileged. I'm sitting out on my back deck, "working." It's one of those summer days that you wish would last all summer, I'm listenening to the Eroica (up next: Cecilia Bartoli singing Mozart arias) on my iPod. The garden is just starting to bloom, and I know that when I start to sweat a little, I can take three steps and I'm in the pool. Sometimes it's hard to prevent guilt from spoiling the feeling...

GLG (gotta love google)

Though I don't get out that much, working from home and all, I wouldn't exactly say I lead a sheltered life. I mean I may be over 40, but I can still talk the jive with the kids, if you know what I mean. But today, in casual conversation with a buddy who is all of four years younger than me, the term "bitch slapping" arose (don't ask). Now, while it may be fairly self-explanatory to many of my dedicated, RSS-feed-junkie readers (you know who you are), and though I've heard the expression before, I--being the meticulous type--wanted a specific, OED-type definition, just in case I had to use it in one of my translations. One must sound like one speaks from authority in these situations.

Google to the rescue: bitch slap. Not exactly the OED, but now I know. I also now know the term "pimp slap," which I had never heard of before my quest for enlightenment. I suspect the young folk are using other new-fangled idioms that I'm not yet aware of, but two is enough for one night.

Teapot update: still nothing. Went to The Bay tonight with moderate hopes. Turns out, they have the same brand I had before--James Sadler--which I would have bought if the biggest model they carried hadn't been a measly six-cupper. I mean, what am I going to do with such a minuscule teapot when me Mum comes over for a cuppa? I ask you!

Don't listen to the weather forecast

It'll only get you down, and it's all LIES!

Anyway, today, despite the negative vibes put out by Environment Canada, was quite a beautiful day, and the first one in weeks (it seems). S. and I went for a walk in the park and, for all you birdwatchers out there, it was warbler city! Eleven species of warbler in all, including a blackpoll, which we hadn't seen since moving back from Winnipeg 14 years ago. All told, we tallied 38 species today. I guess the birds were as happy about the weather as we were.

In other news (albeit late news), last Friday, I broke the spout off the teapot I've owned since I moved to Montreal in 1987. I don't normally put much faith in such things, but my friend Aisha recently made a post on the Brown Betty teapot. I've always thought mine was a Brown Betty, but it says Stadler on the bottom. I guess I subconsciously wanted an authentic BB. Anyway, I'm off to see if I can find the most English of teapots in this most French of North American cities. Wish me luck.

Finally!!!

With the mail this morning, along with International Musician (time to feed the recycling bin), was a very fat padded envelope with my two contributor's copies of In Fine Form, an anthology of Canadian formal poetry in which my pantoum "Lucy, Lucie" is published. This is my first (and so far, only) appearance in print. The book is published by Polestar, an imprint of Raincoast Books, which, incidentally, also publishes the Harry Potter books in Canada.

The book looks great, and I must say, has been worth the nearly two-year wait since I first submitted. It's pretty neat to be anthologized with the likes of Leonard Cohen, Margaret Atwood, Irving Layton, and Al Purdy, to name a just few of the Canadian poetic all-stars that appear in this book.

Now all I have to do is figure out what to do with this cheque I got with the books. I'm thinking it might be better to just frame the darn thing. It's not like I can retire now.

Thanks Aish!

My friend Aisha and I were chatting on AIM when she said, "give me a line break and I'll give you a poem." Well I did, and she did (it was pretty darn good too, considering it took her about 5 seconds). Then she challenged me to do the same. I'm not nearly as quick witted as she is, so I couldn't send her back a poem that instant, but I did take the challenge seriously. Here's what I had to work with: "straddling a fence Wednesday/ on". Yikes!

Well, here's the result:

A Week in Provence

Two wheels beneath me
since Saturday, I imagine myself
riding the Tour, try to empty
my mind of all but the Champs-Elysée.
But I can’t shake the feeling I’m merely sitting on
—or rather straddling—a fence. Wednesday,
on my way up Mont Ventoux, I
stopped once, not to catch my breath,
but to admire the Rhone flowing single-minded
to the Gulf of Lions. Now, pedalling
slowly through Carpantras, I admire pretty
provençale girls strolling narrow streets
and realize that Friday is almost gone;
tomorrow I fly back to a life pedestrian,
and still, I have decided nothing.

Rock

Your weight on the page
Your mass sitting on my eyes
Your immovable presence
forcing me to go around
and not straight
to where I want to go.

Lame five-minute pseudo-sonnet. Don't laugh too hard

I think I'm going to go back to my roots
start writing formal poetry, the stuff
that got me into print in the first place, boot
my butt back onto lyric land, huff and puff
my way back into the arms of Erato.
I've been away too long, poor Penelope
waiting on the strand, hoping to
glimpse my barque on the horizon. Me
I've been goofing off, having pretend adventures
"discovering" my cool new computer
but now I'm 40, I've got to wear my dentures
like a man. And if I want her
to stay, I'd better start living up to the hype—
I could lose a hand tomorrow and never again be able to type.

Lunch weirdness

I must say that of late, the whole blogging thing is getting a bit old for me. It’s probably because I don’t get out much and so figure I have nothing much interesting to recount. For instance, since I work at home, my typical day consists of getting up, eating breakfast, doing some translation, making supper, fiddling around until bedtime, repeat. Occasionally, I go to a rehearsal in the evening, and a few times a year, I play an actual concert.

But this afternoon, I have something to report that might just interest my reader. (Disclaimer: if you have a sensitive stomach, stop reading here.) The larder is bare, so lunch today called for some serious scrounging. Here’s what I’m having (as I write this, in fact). Three pieces of pannetone sliced like bread, topped with mayo and smoked halibut on one slice and sardines in tomato sauce and cheese on the other two. Even I—he of the cast-iron stomach, Ranger the human vacuum—think that’s strange, and I’m pretty sure it is by just about any standard. But hey, if you’re hungry… Actually it’s not that bad; the sweetness of the bread and the smoke flavour are surprisingly good. I haven’t got to the sardines yet, so I may change my tune in a mouthful or two.

Ranger, god of dreams

Morpheus


?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??



Actually, I'm kind of happy about this. I usually hate the outcomes of these little schemes, but this is pretty close to me (especially the imaginative and smart bit ;-)

OK, I've been away for a bit. My grandfather's on his deathbed (again... he keeps surprising us, but I doubt it will be long now), so I had to fly out west to be with the family. But I'm back now, surfing a new machine, and ready to go. So let's start with the stick.

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
OK, I still don't get this question, but I'm going to say Homer's Iliad the way it was meant to be--memorized (OK, maybe as an audiobook).

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
Big time. Hardy's heroines Bathsheba and Tess. At least Bathsheba ended up with someone worthy (Gabriel Oak had the patience of a saint, though), but poor Tess.

The last book you bought is:
Running: Start to Finish, by John Stanton

The last book you read:
Thomas Hardy, The Mayor of Casterbridge. Not one of Hardy’s best, IMO.

What are you currently reading?
Running: Start to Finish (not the book I hoped it would be)
Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond (excellent read, really well written)
North in the World: Selected Poems of Rolf Jacobsen (thanks, Aisha, for introducing me to this awsome poet)

Five books you would take to a deserted island:*
1- Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, & Plays (Library of America edition)
2- The Aubrey-Maturin series, by Patrick O'Brian (OK, this is 20 books. So sue me.)
3- The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
4- Watership Down, by Richard Adams
5- Far From the Madding Crowd, by Thomas Hardy

*Not necessarily in this order; I reserve the right to edit this list at any time.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why? --

I'm going to toss the sticks in the air and let them fall where they may. If you haven't had the stick passed to you, consider it done.

Stuck with the stick

I guess it was inevitable. Aisha has whacked me with this stick (I think they call it "passing" ;-). I usually don't respond to chain mail but I'll do my best with this because a) it isn't really chain mail, b) it's gets people thinking about books, which can't be that bad, and c) I'm caving under the weight of peer pressure.

But first, I need to think about a few things, especially that desert island question.

Second, I don't get the first question (You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?). I mean, this is a book about book burning (I've never read it, but the plot sounds very similar to 1984). So I'm a book inside this book. But what is the question asking? If I'm a book and I want to be a martyr, which book do I want to be? Is my goal to create the longest-burning fire? Maybe the question has suffered from the telephone effect; maybe it should be "You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to read?" That would make more sense to me. Anyone out there in blogland care to help me out of this conundrum? While you're thinking about it, wingtips actually burned a book to make this image. Now that's dedication to art. Thanks Paula.

The Letter A

I turn to face St. Helens, my back to the easel
balanced on one slope, frozen in time.
I have painted a year’s worth of sunsets,
all too red, gaudy and unnatural.

In a hundred years, no one will remember her
intact. Her presence,
goddess bent under the weight of rage,
wearing the grey mourning dress of her own ashes,
overpowers any two-dimensional remnants.

The easel, fallen silently to the floor behind me;
The mountain, collapsed before me;
My hands, powerless at my sides.

Voyelles

A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu : voyelles,
Je dirai quelque jour vos naissances latentes :
A, noir corset velu des mouches éclatantes
Qui bombinent autour des puanteurs cruelles,

Golfes d'ombre ; E, candeurs des vapeurs et des tentes,
Lances des glaciers fiers, rois blancs, frissons d'ombelles ;
I, pourpres, sang craché, rire des lèvres belles
Dans la colère ou les ivresses pénitentes ;

U, cycles, vibrement divins des mers virides,
Paix des pâtis semés d'animaux, paix des rides
Que l'alchimie imprime aux grands fronts studieux ;

O, suprême Clairon plein des strideurs étranges,
Silences traversés des Mondes et des Anges :
- O l'Oméga, rayon violet de Ses Yeux !

Arthur Rimbaud

Why would Rimbaud write a poem about vowels? Was he just stoned? Or was he up late one night talking with his lover and, drunk on absinthe, they began to discuass how vowels are different from the others--how they seem at first glance to exist happily within the alphabet family, but if you look a little closer, you see trouble, you see how they don't really fit in.

Vowels are always forcing the mouth open, while the other letters work hard to close it, forming consonants. In essence, language is a war between the consonants and the vastly outnumbered vowels, and the battle ground is your tongue.

Maybe Rimbaud gave the vowels a poem all their own because he felt that, like poets, vowels needed an advocate, needed someone to stick up for them. After all, they are gallant and valiant letters, managing to hold off the other twenty-one letters by themselves (though they sometimes get help from that sneaky double agent, "y"). And let's face it, without the vowels language would be nothing but clicks and hisses, not to mention song, which couldn't exist without them.

So let's give it up for the vowels, and Rimbaud, who gave them a poem. It's somehow fitting that a poet, a misfit of society, would write a poem about vowels, those misfits of the alphabet. And yet both are drivers of language. Rimbaud probably felt a secret affinity for them.

Embarassment of riches

Among the truly asounding and touching array of gifts I received for my birthday last week, a ghazal by my friend, the multi-talented artist Randy Adams.

hybrid ghazal #9

still a young'n though at 40
a distant memory for some

count our blessings one, two
and count our many losses

a poem for peter, blocked
for eons then this, go figure

there was no pen involved
this text exists only here

odd when you think about it
this aging in virtual space

A poem lovely as a sackbut

Never thought I'd ever see this, but someone (Ken Bolton, to be exact) has written a poem with a sackbut in it (who cares if he doesn't spell it correctly). Will wonders never cease.

Birthday present roundup

From sister and nephews:
Spiderman comic from November 1965 (not mint, but extremely touching)
Travel mug
Bicycling jersey
Bike speedometer

From mum:
Jar of marmelade, serving as a deposit on a bottle of scotch, to be delivered when sister et al. visit this summer.

From dad:
Complete 10-volume set of The Story of Civilization by Will and Ariel Durant (which has been in my family for almost as long as I have, and which I have coveted for years). Must have cost him a small fortune to send it!

From S.
Scandinavia: at war with trolls. A history from the Napoleonic era to the third millennium by Tony Griffiths
CD: Best of Bowie (including bonus DVD)
Nine Horses by Billy Collins.
And the folllowing poem (after "Soir d'hiver" by Émile Nelligan)

Ah! come le temps a passé
Ma vie est un jardin d'amour
Ah! comme la vie m'a gâtée
Qu'est-ce que la vie, mon amour
... l'amour que j'ai, que j'ai.

My last hours as thirty-something...

Can you hear this song
the notes rising and falling
with the strength of my breath?
Don't listen to the words,
hear the music of my voice
hear the Beethoven of my heart,
let the notes of my voice--
and now your voice, joining in
--rise and fall in unison
as we read the words from the page.

Perhaps the unison won't be perfect;
you have a country accent
handed down on your mother's side
(the way your vowels twang at the ends of words).
but our different timbres make a string
section, and we are richer for it, and the words
richer for our voices.

It doesn't matter what we say
as long as we say it together.

Fringe Benefits

As both musician and translator, one of my favourite gigs is translating liner notes for the record label Analekta. I get to combine my two professions, the liner notes are always well-written and interesting, it's a real challenge (as opposed to translating, say annual reports...yawn), and--the best part--free CDs periodically appear in my mailbox.

Last week was particularly wonderful; I got a padded envelope with two discs. One, a recording of Alessandro Scarlatti cantatas by Les voix baroques and countertenor Matthew White, the other a recording of Bach sonatas by the amazing young violinist James Ehnes.

Both CDs are wonderful. I've toured with Matt White. His voice is really starting to blossom and I predict a bright future for this guy (not that he's begging for work as it is). He also happens to be a genuinely nice person. This CD is magnificent.

I've played with James Ehnes too. When I was with the Wiinipeg Symphony, this guy was a 16-year-old child prodigy. Being from just down the road in Brandon, he played with the WSO often back then, though I see that that orchestra isn't even mentioned in his bio nowadays--you've come a long way baby! He was great as a 16-year old. Now he must be around 30, and he blows me away. I'm no great judge of violinists, but this guy is certainly one of my favourite young fiddlers. The Bach CD is good, though I'm used to hearing a more period-specific style. But Ehnes is such a fine musician. I can't say much against it.

Analekta has been putting out some really good recordings lately (I'm not biased at all, mind you). I hope they continue to thrive, both because I love the gig and because they're doing a great job.

Note to self:

if it ain't poetic, it ain't worth posting here...

TRHMIL

So I was reading The Anchored Nomad this evening when S. got up and sat down beside me, complaining that she couldn't sleep. So I told her about portuguesa nova's blog and what a good writer I thought she was, mentioning how she referred to her husband as TPMIM (the Portugese Man I Married). Next thing I knew, S. was telling me she should refer to me as TRHMIL. I thought for a moment and smiled. "The Really Handsome Man I Love?" I said hopefully. Close, but no cigar. Merely "The Red-Headed Man I Love." Ah well, its the last part that counts anyway...