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Wednesday 14 September 2016

how I spent my summer holidays . . .

Hi Katherine,
Thanks for the concern  ;  )  I guess I'm going through a period of transition and adjustment in my life - lots of recent changes. I really miss Chase, who passed at the end of January. We were constant companions for the decade we shared. Knowing I was going to lose Chase was part of my decision to sell ZenRiver Gardens last summer (2015) - double closure for the decade which followed my early forced retirement from the library world. My life seems to be organized in decades.

My best friend Sylvia has successfully moved back to her home city of Thunder Bay. I focused most of my time and energy after Chase's passing on helping her prepare her Toronto house for sale, and now that she's moved I've lost my base in Toronto. Further closure.

PurdyFests also ended two summers ago, a couple of years short of my standard mark of a decade. It was a lot of fun and a learning experience coordinating events, and it was enjoyable playing host to a wide selection of Canadian poets. Sadly, a number of the poets turned out to be huge ingrates, including several fellow key organizers. I find it hard to reconcile how people who can be such arseholes in life can write any kind of genuine poetry - how can there be any joy and magick in your writing if you're a fuck up in your relationships with other people, especially those who've supported and encouraged you. 

As you may have noticed from my infrequent blog postings, and lack of inspired literary creativity, I'm taking one of my regular sabbaticals from the CanPo world. Now that Sylvia's settled in TBay, I've been spending my summer enjoying the raw beauty of my rural surroundings. Lots of kayak trips in my bathtub sized yacht, lots of hot and humid afternoons spent wandering the cool shallows of the Crowe River at Callahan's Rapids Conservation Area, daily walks on the nearby path beside The Crowe - that kind of enjoyable escapism and appreciation of nature. Maybe 'Wordsworth of The Shield'   ;  )-

Because of my lack of recent literary creativity, an essay from you on September would be most welcome for Riffs and Ripples. I'm surprised that the blog is still receiving an average of 30 to 40+ visits a day, despite only one posting in all of August. Perhaps your enthusiasm will inspire and lift me from my comfortable, but uninspired doldrums!

peace & poetry power!
Chris/cricket

p.s. yes, your book arrived a while back, but to be honest, I haven't even opened the package yet I'm so burned out with my fellow poets (except for you and a few others)



On 2016-09-12, at 11:31 AM, Katherine Gordon wrote:

Hello Chris, hope all is well at Zen River, especially you.
I mailed you a copy of Landscapes,  hope it reached you.

Are you in the mood for a brief essay on September?
Let me know how you are doing.  An early chill here in the
valley,  perhaps you are snug in town.
Katherine.

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