Folks, April is National Poetry Month. For those interested, check out the League of Canadian Poets website (www.poets.ca) as well as the Canadian Poets Association. I propose a celebratory night in April coinciding with our meeting at Cuppedia to celebrate this as well as Al Purdy Day April 21. My challenge to all is to write something to celebrate Al Purdy and read it!
Dear Alisha,
I think your art is amazing – you have tapped into nature in a very magical way; do you know the story of the goddess Diana? Just keep on going and ignore any negativity.
Regarding your editorial, “A Terrible Shame”, page B6 of the Saturday Observer of Jan 10th, 2009.
Dear Sirs,
Your editorial “A Terrible Shame” reads well but seems to tell only one side of the story, despite extending a literary olive branch to Arabic culture. You neglect to mention that the Arabs too were dispossessed, when the lion’s share of Palestine was ‘given’ to the Jews by the British for the creation of a Jewish state, despite its predominantly Arabic demography. Also, I dispute your unsupported claim that Israel, “as a western society (…) has always expected that peace will be achieved through negotiation and compromise.” Israeli policy surely refutes this statement if you consider; their blockade of Gaza (a de facto act of war), the dividing walls nearing completion in the West Bank, or the military strikes they routinely carry out against anxious neighbors with F-16 fighter aircraft and helicopter gunships. The record of ‘western societies’ in seeking peaceful resolutions includes the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Iraq wars. Perhaps you understand these events as examples of ‘negotiation and compromise’. What I (and Red Cross, and Medicines Sans Frontiers) see compromised in the Gaza Strip is innocent human life, the significance of which does not seem to rank well against the all-important rocket attacks on whose account, apparently, the civilians of Gaza may blame themselves for their casualties.
Sincerely, Benjamin J. Oomen B.A. Liberal Arts
229 Argyle Ave. Apt 1106
Ottawa, ON. K2P 2J1
Home: 613 234 9203
Cell: 613 883 1385
P.S. Although I would love to see this in print, I do not really expect it to be published. That is because newspapers and other media outlets in our ‘western society’ seem to consider it taboo to consider seriously any guilt or wrongdoing on the part of the state of Israel. One has only to recall how Michael Ignatieff was lambasted for days after merely suggesting that Lebanon AND Israel were both guilty or war crimes. A suggestion which has proved, of course, to be true. Anti-semitism is no good, but it is possible to take Zionism to far.
Here I stand; she holds my hand.
The smell of wet earth fills my nostrils, and the late summer sun warms my face. The wind blows foretelling a storm.
Everyone is here but you. No one knows what to say but they all look beautiful. Suits, dresses, nice shoes, and colourful ties contrast the grey, green, and brown.
Hi folks,
I am about to embark upon a series of poems and stories that I have long wanted to do. I have been building my abilities to get to the point where I felt I could reasonably start dealing with the issue of my mother in writing. As the series continues on you will like come to understand the dilemma I face with this. Those of you who know me well will already guess at the difficulty of this project for me. In a way it puts the e-mail to god to shame, even though these are likely not going to appear as powerful. So today I will post the first scratching, halting attempt at this, any and all sincere feedback is welcome, but this is a touchy subject for me…
As some readers of this site will know Danny Montreal and I work for a merino products company called Icebreaker. I recently did my last day there because I am moving back to Ottawa. Here is a little letter I sent out to the company.
To any and all who care, › Continue reading
I am my mother’s illegitimate son, the only happy result of a tryst with a Notary in the region of Florence. Back then, in 1452 things were different, people cared about the places they lived and paid closer attention their surroundings. I am profoundly disappointed that this has altered. Some change is good (I have been a driving force of much over time), of course, but other change is inherently worrisome. These are my notes to the future for any who care to read them. I must write them out because to remain silent is against my nature and because we the people of the past have a great deal to teach to any willing to listen. Lew Welch proclaimed, “Speak old man, thy wisdom’s meant for me,” to him and those like him is this letter addressed. › Continue reading
Dear God;
I am writing you an e-mail because I do not know what else to do. I read in a book that you are dead. I think that is crazy. I read in another book that you do the best you can to stop us from living in the painful civilizations we have constructed or at least ease our burden but that even you are not powerful enough. I like that idea. No offense meant but I like the idea that you are out there trying like the rest of us. We are Brother and Sister Peaceful Fighters for a better world. In this all-knowing but not all-powerful conception of you people are still holders of their own destiny.
We may have made things so fucked up down here that destiny is a joke and the deck is stacked against most of us in an insurmountable way. I won’t argue against that. But God, I need to believe in something. I am not sure I believe in you or if you are just a convenient idea prefabricated for me like my couch or my Ikea bookshelf requiring minimal assembly. › Continue reading
