When the stars lined up

...and I got the opportunity to go to the Griffins, I jumped at it.
Sylvia Legris, author of the incredible book Nerve Squall which is shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize, has been an important mentor over the years. The invitation that sits before me is another example of her ongoing generosity.

Now H and I just have to find our way there. We feel quite at home in the forest, in the thickest of bush, but cities are another story. It will be fun. Thanks to Tracy for advising us on where to stay, etc. Thanks to Ariel for offering us her hospitality yet again. Thanks to Sylvia for everything. I am lucky and I am grateful.

I'll post again after June 6.

What keeps poets

...going.

The first poem I read today

...was "The Heiress" by Anna Akhmatova from The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova.

Sometimes it's a joy

...to just listen and let your mind go with it. This is a beautiful reading by John MacKenzie.

It's also a joy to come across words that spark new thinking. One phrase in particular has created great sparks in my head. It comes from Pete McGregor's post yesterday.

The first poem I read today

...was "Good Night" by Czeslaw Milosz from New and Collected Poems 1931-2001.

And just now "To the Many" by Anna Akhmatova from The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova.

Not only do I know

...who Joan Baez is, I know where she is. Ha. My pop culture education is coming right along.

The first poem I read today

...was "Comfort" by Anna Akhmatova from The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova.

As I compare my day

...to the first paragraph of this article, I have to wonder if I really am human.

The first poem I read today

...was "If" by Czeslaw Milosz from New and Collected Poems 1931-2001.

Translators get some press

...in Russia. The quotes are fun.

The first poem I read today

...was "So-called Life" by Czeslaw Milosz from New and Collected Poems 1931-2001.

It would be fun to thumb

....through these 20,000 papers.

It was too cold

...to paint yesterday, so I looked around instead. The forest was moving. Moose tracks. Bear scat. Hooded Mergansers and Green-winged Teal sunning on logs. Belted Kingfishers fishing. Osprey, Broad-winged Hawk, Bald Eagle, Merlin. Ovenbird. Hermit Thrush. A Great Blue Heron moving from shore to shore. A Sandhill Crane lifting from a clearing. It was endless and I was moving along with it all. Wherever I went, I knelt. I felt whatever was growing. Glowing.

This spring we've been spending a lot of time down the Mystic Lake Road. We were there again yesterday, scoping the water, scanning the trees and scaling the rocks and ditches. Near McRobbie Lake, where the beavers have created the most beautiful dam I've ever seen, I skidded down a steep ditch, jumped across a stream and knelt to photograph a culvert and the marsh marigold that beamed close to its mouth.


I knelt for a long time. My jeans mopped up the water. My jacket sleeves mopped up some more. Cold knees and elbows left me clumsy. Cold hands lost grip on the scrub I used to pull myself back up to the road. I thought about the placement of each step. The erosion. The slips. I was shivering by the time I got home.

The first poem I read today

...was "A Hall" by Czeslaw Milosz from New and Collected Poems 1931-2001.

Some blossoms

...passed through my inbox today. They came from a poet. They went to a poet. After I did my part, I headed out to the forest to find some flowers of my own.


I'll spend most of the next few days in the forest. If it warms up a bit, I'll be painting. If not, I'll sketch, play with the camera and watch birds. Spring migration is well underway and the warblers are starting to show up. I'll listen for them while I look at all the flowers.


I'll post again next week. Have a good weekend.

The first poem I read today

...was "My-ness" by Czeslaw Milosz from New and Collected Poems 1931-2001.

I guess spelling

...is an issue.

The first poem I read today

...was "Distance" by Czeslaw Milosz from New and Collected Poems 1931-2001.

Sometimes I wonder

...where stuff like this will lead. Anyhow, I just watched the Oilers take out the Sharks. Now I'm going to curl up with the June issue of Scientific American, titled "A Matter of Time." I'll start with the introduction and then jump into "A Hole at the Heart of Physics." Who knows where I'll end up.

Ok. Time's up.

The first poem I read today

...was "The Moose" by Elizabeth Bishop. I listened to it as well.

The removal of the war club

...is eerie enough (the video links are on the second page of this story on the 1500 year old mummy in Peru), but it's nothing compared to the close-up of the mummy's tattoos. That video gives me the shivers. The way it ends.

It's game over

...for me.

The first poem I read today

...was "Mnemonic" by Li-Young Lee from Rose.

Bono

...the editor.

The first poem I read today

...was "My Indigo" by Li-Young Lee from Rose.

Way down

...this page you'll find a picture of me receiving my cupcake prize. At the bottom of the page you'll find a link to books suggested by the Talking Fresh 4 presenters. That's excellent. I neglected to jot them down at the time.

The first poem I read today

...was "Epistle" by Li-Young Lee from Rose.

Squares

...are cool.

I'm more of a trapezoid.

Have a good weekend.

The first poem I read today

...was "The Bus Barn at Night" by August Kleinzahler from The Strange Hours Travelers Keep.

Soon I will finish this book and mail it back to its rightful owner. I swear.

Every time I see

...the word "relic" I think of The Beachcombers.

The first poem I read today

...was "inwreck" by Dennis Lee from UN.

What

...next?

The first poem I read today

...was "Geography" by Katherine Lawrence from Lying to Our Mothers.

The launch

...of Celebrating Saskatchewan Artists was packed. The book was written by Steven Ross Smith and designed by Duncan Campbell. It's gorgeous. I'll provide a link to it when I find one.

Before the launch, we spent some time at the Mendel Art Gallery. The Sisetski exhibition is incredible. In The Mendel Folio (Volume 34.2), Dan Ring, the curator of this exhibition, says "Sisetski sees his work as a message that is both ominous and revelatory, a vision of his deeply held worldview that distills strands of prophetic narratives and occult motivations that resonate with his real life and our time." I wish I could've spent more time with his work. Too bad they didn't print a catalogue for the show.

After the launch, we drove through the dark to Manitou.

How often do you capture a cake

...hovering above a diner?


Not only a cake, but Tracy's cake. Needless to say, strategic planning is necessary. Tactics. Marianna and Tracy handled the lighting and provided support so I could steady the camera in the darkness. H handled the camera settings. I tried to be composed as I searched for the perfect composition. The smell of chocolate overwhelmed me. The heat.

The first poem I read today

...was "Strange Birds; Twitching Birds" by Sylvia Legris from Nerve Squall.

I'd love to

...watch the face of Jupiter. I'd love to just be outside, looking up. If all goes well, tomorrow night after I buy some books, check out the Paul Sisetski exhibition at the Mendel and attend the launch of Celebrating Saskatchewan Artists, I'll be doing just that. If I'm really lucky, I'll be looking up while I'm eating cake.

I'll post again next week.

The first poem I read today

...was "My Little Utopia" by Charles Simic from Selected Poems: 1963-2003.

Some days it takes forever to pound out

...800 words. Today the actual writing time wasn't all that long, but it took ages to make myself put the first word down. Instead I thought about million-year-long eruptions, extraterrestrial impacts, and comets disguised as asteroids. I wanted to go on to read Bookninja's new magazine articles, but I stopped myself. I wanted to check out the poems on May Day - I know half of the participating poets - and though I did check in to see who had posted, I kept myself from reading their work. I wanted to listen to poems over at Salt and Ice, since there's a couple I haven't listened to yet, but I avoided that, too. I also wanted to take a closer look at Kimmy Beach's new site, but I kept my first visit short. Those are just a few examples of what I missed because of those 800 stubborn words.

The first poem I read today

...was "And Then I Think" by Charles Simic from Selected Poems: 1963-2003.

The plight of William Blake's watercolours

...is fascinating on many levels. The folio in question is currently valued at £8.8 million. This news brought to mind Blake's bio, which I find inspiring, as the heavily highlighted sections of my copy of the Norton Anthology of English Literature (Fifth Edition, 1987) plainly show. Parts of the bio jump out at me:

"...Blake moved back to London, determined to follow his "Divine Vision" though it meant a life of isolation, misunderstanding, and poverty. When his one great bid for public recognition, a one-man show put on in 1809, proved a total failure, Blake passed into almost complete obscurity."

"At the time of his death Blake was little known as an artist and almost entirely unknown as a poet."

But this is my favourite:

"Blake's old age was serene, self-confident, and joyous, largely free from the bursts of irascibility with which he had earlier responded to the shallowness and blindness of the English public."

After I read the news about Blake's watercolours, I spent some time looking around The William Blake Archive. It's a treasure. I lingered over work that made me think about serenity, self-confidence and joy. Then I stared at this.

The first poem I read today

...was "The Clocks of the Dead" by Charles Simic from Selected Poems: 1963-2003.

I did sit in the rocks

...along the Mystic Lake Road on Saturday. I photographed a number of culverts along the way, including a huge ice filled culvert at McRobbie Lake. Then I sat near a huge beaver dam and painted.


I worked on a small canvas and kept things simple. While I was painting, an otter popped up in front of me and looked me over before it moved on. I guess it didn't think much of the painting. An hour later it popped up again, heading back the way it came. It took one quick look and then pulled its head underwater. Thanks, I said. Thanks a lot.

My poems went up in smoke

...and then they were bulldozed. On Friday fire destroyed a couple businesses on Main Street in Flin Flon, including one that carried my books. We drove by it yesterday. It looked as if a monster had chewed the corner off the street. My poems can be found somewhere in the rubble, wet and stinking of smoke. Today it's raining on top of it all.

The first poem I read today

...was "Long Distance" by Anne Szumigalski from On Glassy Wings.