Pathfinder: Story of his father's air force experiences during WWll by Lionel Bennett

 

Pathfinder
His priority of getting to WW2 became bringing everyone home
by Lionel Bennett

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In the spring of 1940, on a path barely lit by a thin, crescent moon, a schoolteacher with a hard-held dream sets out on a sixteen-mile trek through Ontario bush. Arriving in time to catch the midnight train, he settles in for the ride to Winnipeg, where he intends to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force. His journey is just beginning. The schoolteacher is Gordon Wellington Bennett, a young man whose passion for flight and determination to serve lead him to pilot training, then overseas to England, where he becomes a flying instructor—and meets the love of his life, Stella, and starts a family. But all of this fades to a blurry background as the war intensifies. When Gordon is tasked as a bomber pilot, his family expands to include his crew—six young men, all seeking honour and glory, all grappling with the horrific realities of war. From here, Gordon’s journey becomes one of dogged survival. At the centre of it all is the impossible question of morality. Confounded by his role in the devastation, Gordon, a secular humanist, seeks answers with the guidance of Father Charles Brimley, a retired Anglican priest who becomes an important mentor. Based on true events, Pathfinder tells the heartbreaking coming-of-age of one young Canadian man, a man whose gallantry earns him a Distinguished Flying Cross, a man with a dream and a unique story, just like every other man who served his country during the deadliest conflict in human history.

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Lionel Bennett is the son of Officer Gordon Bennett. Using logbooks, squadron debriefing notes, written accounts of WWII experiences, and personal interview material gleaned over drams of Sheep Dip in Gordon’s eighty-eighth year, Lionel began to formulate a story based on the true events of his father’s life. Pathfinder is the striking result. A member of the Canadian Heritage Warplane Museum, a flight enthusiast, and a sailor, Lionel finds home just outside of Marmora, Ontario with his wife, Laurane, where they enjoy the local wildlife and their blended family of three sons, two daughters, and ten grandchildren.

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Contributors

Author

Lionel Bennett

Editor

Alex Schultz

 

 

 

A Great Read: Olivia Chow's autobiography "My Journey"

 

Last week I ventured into the Marmora Library for the first time in ages, thirsty for a good winter read. They didn't have any of Ian Hamilton's Ava Lee thrillers, so I lugged home Olivia Chow's 2014 autobio My Journey and Joe Fiorito's 2002 first novel,The Song Beneath the Ice. I decided to start with Olivia's book, as she's back in the news in a big way as the recently elected Mayor of our national city-state, Toronto.

I wasn't expecting much, maybe just a bit of political nostalgia from my days living in TO, from 1974 until I moved to the edge of the Kawarthas in 1989. I sure didn't expect a book I couldn't put down at night, and then held off reading the final four pages just so  I'd have an excuse to pick it up again. Yep, the book is a good read for anybody, and of course a great read for political junkies. It combines her insightful and exciting life story, including the fairy tale romance and marriage with Jack Layton, the man who should have been our Prime Minister. He almost was until cancer took its nasty toll at the last minute.

But it's many other stories - that of a Chinese immigrant from Hong Kong, born upper middle class (e.g. 'halfway up the mountain'). The family move to Canada wasn't the success her parents had imagined, and hard times followed. And it's the story of a talented artist (sculptor) who found her ultimate calling via the circultous ladder of progressive volunteerism and on into municipal politics. The book could definitely act as a step by step manual for wannabe politicos, and it's an historical tour guide of 1990s - 2000s Toronto and its cultural, political and progressive movements. There's feminism, LGBT+ rights, going back to the bath house raids my poet friend David Reed was swept up in. There are battles with the TO police union and surprisingly (to me) her creative assistance in organizing a giant rave in TO's Nathan Phillips City Square.

I recommended the book to my friend Sylvia, who lived in TO during most of Olivia and Jack's early decades of progressive organizing. She was reminded of sending her kids to Woodgreen Community Centre Daycare and when Jack Layton was her city councillor. Initially we both wondered how someone not known as a writer managed to write such an engaging and yet well organized book, and if she'd used a ghost writer. Well, Olivia followed the same template she's done all her life organizing. She put together a team who helped her organize the book and to give gentle guidance on what details to leave in, and what to omit. I wasn't surprised when I learned one of her helpers was journalist extraordinaire Victor Malarek. I remember reading his autobio, Hey Malarek!, when I first started working at the Main Street Library in east end Toronto.

Her book was published in 2014, but we know how the story continues, with Olivia Chow just elected the Mayor of Toronto (with strong powers - thanks Doug Ford). If you want to get some idea of where our national city-state is headed, My Journey will give the reader some great clues.


Harper Collins, 2014
328 pages
(great pic section as well)

                                                        ~    ~    ~

an afterthought: A brief haibun of mine was included in the artists' tribute to Jack Layton, Jack Layton: Art in Action, Penn Kemp, editor, Quattro Books, Inc.  2013. 

Wind Horses

Given how Jack championed wind power, it seems appropriate that prayer flags are called Wind Horses in Tibetan. Here is Chris Faiers's Prayer Flag Haibun for the occasion.

Regarding the vigil for Jack and hanging the prayer flags, I wanted to do something more uplifting (pun intended) than draw another chalk memorial on the concrete of Nathan Phillips. So  I bobbled around the fixtures of the skating rink, frantically trying to tie down the prayer flags in the downtown wind tunnel effect. An elderly couple stopped to encourage my efforts. They were possibly from India, and after I accomplished the hanging, they thanked me for displaying the prayer flags. They also  felt the flags were a most appropriate spiritual honour for Jack. 

city winds

carry our prayers

over Lake Ontario  

 

1989 letter from Elizabeth Searle Lamb (Frogpond Editor, etc.)

 E.S. Lamb, Editor
Frogpond
970 Acequia Madrre
Santa Fe, NM  87501

(typed)

September 29, 89

Dear Chris Faiers:

In today's mail I received the 'permission request'
for use of one of your haiku (actually request for your
address) along with three others, forwarded from New
York City.

I enclose Toshimi Horiuchi's request*, plus some Canadian
stamps and hope if this letter reaches you that you will
respond to him/her (?)  promptly.  I have also sent your
address, hoping this one is current, to Toshimi Horiuchi.

Two other requests were for Alan Fisher and Gregory D.
Cottrell. Unfortunately I know neither of them and so
could not help. If by chance you know them . . . . .

A fourth request was regarding Jose Tablada - - and
there I could at least say that he was a Mexican poet
who died in 1945 - - and the haiku used in Mainichi Daily
News was a translation from the Spanish original.

To other things - - I always enjoy your work when I see it - -
for instance, your Haiku Canada Sheet "Mr. Library Man."
GRIN.  

I do collect haiku books, and I am wondering about any
of yours.  Are any of those little early things available?
Even a xerox copy put together . . . . I would be glad to buy or
to trade (Casting into a Cloud; Southwest Haiku; Lines
for my Mother, dying, and 39 Blossoms are the ones available
and of those Casting . . . .  is the most substantial). Anyway,
I would be happy to hear from you.

Enclosing also the current Information Sheet of HSA. Of
course we would always be happy to have you as a member
if you wished to join.

May this autumn season bring you joy,

Elizabeth Lamb

(handwritten note)
A friend keeps me more
than supplied with
Canadian stamps, so I'm
just putting in 'a bunch'.

(hand drawn smiley face)

*The request from Toshimi Horiuchi was permission to include my haiku:

Green garden hose

spouting

a rainbow

In his book Synesthesia in Haiku and Other Essays

copyright 1990, University of the Philippines Printery

 

haiku correspondence Elizabeth Searle Lamb and 1990 Cordova Mines haiku

 

Elizabeth Searle Lamb

American poet

Elizabeth Searle Lamb was an American poet. She is known for writing English-language haiku. Raymond Roseliep called her the "First Lady of American haiku". Her work has been translated into other languages. Wikipedia

Born: January 22, 1917, Topeka, Kansas, United States

Died: February 16, 2005, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States

Books: Inside Me, Outside Me: Songs to Sing, Games, Rhymes, Puzzles, and Think Poems, A Light in the Darkness: Stories about God's Mysterious Ways from Guideposts and Today and Every Dayfrom me to Elizabeth Searle Lamb Jan. 31, 1990
Cordova Mines, Ontario

 

                                                 ~    ~    ~    ~

 

from me to Elizabeth Searle Lamb Jan. 31, 1990
Cordova Mines, Ontario

Elizabeth Lamb
FROGPOND
970 Acequia Madre
Santa Fe, New Mexico
87501
U.S.A.

Dear Elizabeth,

Thank you for your letter (of Oct.27) and the Christmas card.
Sorry to take so long replying; I had my first attack of kidney
stones in ten years over the holidays. Combined with a bout of the
flu, all activities were stopped in their tracks. Now I'm
feeling a lot better, taking lots of hikes back on the snowmobile
trails with my boarder's dog - there are beaver dams (& lodges),
deer tracks, snowshoe rabbits and last week I flushed about
thirty grouse.

Really enjoyed CASTING INTO A CLOUD. My favourite so far is:

all night
singing in the bathroom
autumn crickets

I was pleased to note that you published it with Bill Higginson's
press. Bill and I corresponded back in the late sixties, and
recently we have begun corresponding again (well, at least every
few years). Thanks also for signing my copy, and I was overwhelmed
with your dedication.

Last week I sent you a copy of my collection FOOT THROUGH THE CEILING.
It's my first major collection so far, and it includes longer poems
as well as haiku/senryu. I also put together a dummy of my first
chapbook, CRICKET FORMATIONS. "Cricket" was my nom de plume in the
sixties.

I'm enclosing some unpublished haiku with this letter for your con-
sideration for FROGPOND. They are all about life here in Cordova
Mines. They are so recent to me, I'm not 100% sure of their quality,
so it'll be interesting to me to see if you think any are worthy
of publication.

Work is proceeding well on the haibun. I have copytyped all but five
of the twenty-eight or so vignettes. Will send you a draft copy as
soon as I finish.

POETRY POWER!
Chris  

in the hamlet
my rubbish fire
more fun than TV

burning rubbish
smoke and neighbour
follow me

birds chirp
in the shared garage
until the door opens

distant smoky line
becomes a V of ducks
returning north

bright yellow
on my empty clothesline
a wild canary

after the rainstorm
  turtle trapped
in the middle of the road

after the rain
Stones on the stereo
wild canary lands

garter snakes
entwining
on my front stoop

new canoe
paddling cautiously
among fall leaves

after canoeing
writing haiku
instead of my novel

our car scares up
buzzard feeding
raccoon roadkill

painting my canoe green
snake slithers away
through high grass

blue flowers
  up the hill
     vacant cottage

searching for moth eggs
her jeans
stretching

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

to be published in next members'
anthology of Haiku Canada:

September
crickets invade
haikuist's house

& submitted to theJapan Air Lines contest:

orange leaves
drained hatchery beds
sunning

temp job
outside the fence
wild grapes

early snowfall
in stretched twilight
kids roll snowmen

In a letter from me to Elizabeth on August 2, 1990 I thank her for accepting 3 of the above haiku for publication in Frogpond. Which 3 I don't have a clue  ;  )- 











 

Milton Acorn Is Full of Poetry

 I've been reading Olivia Chow's amazing 2014 autobiography My Journey. So I woke up dreaming of my years in Toronto, and Milton Acorn. A review of Olivia's book will follow when I've finished reading it, but in the meantime, here's an old poem of mine about Milton.

 

Milton Acorn is Full of Poetry

even tho
you repeat yourself
thinking even your mumbles
are more important than
the truths of beginning poets

and even tho you've never even
acknowledged that I write poetry
you old fart

I am still a student of
THE MILTON ACORN SCHOOL OF POETRY
even if you are too
goddamned proud to open it

So the only way I could join
was to declare it
OFFICIALLY OPEN
in this poem
So here it is, Uncle Miltie

And even tho I've said
a nasty thing or two
in this dedication
More Poems for People is still
the only book I read often enough
to hide my money in

from my book Foot Through the Ceiling
1986, Aya Press
it won the inaugural Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award in 1987

note 1: Milton did eventually recognize that I had some talent as a poet

note 2: The story of finding hidden money in More Poems for People is true. I can't remember which birthday, prob. circa the late 1980s, but I shook out a twenty dollar bill and went to Greenwood Racetrack.  

The jenney grist mill (Plymouth) - Martin Durkin poem

 
On 2024-01-12, at 10:47 AM, Martin D. wrote:

Hi Chris

I hope all is well.

Military has since moved us to Plymouth MA.....learning all about pilgrims.....depending on which pilgrim you speak to...

Loving the ocean, 4 year stint then back to the original landing of Ontario....

 

The jenney grist mill(Plymouth)

 Martin Durkin
 

The bell of a trumpet is a seashell to my ear
the ocean speaking to me
in a small pub

Ghosts pausing and waiting in the alleyway
and when I walk home drunk with you we will hear the grain mill
in the background

Once again the words will be speechless
because the trumpet says it all
within a universal language.



cheers

Martin

1989 letter from American haijin Lee Gurga

I'm continuing to publish selected letters from my haiku correspondence before I donate them to the Haiku Canada Archives in the University of Victoria Special Collections. It's interesting to note in Lee's letter that haiku was relatively unknown in English thirty five years ago. In 1997 Lee became the President of the Haiku Society of America. He edited Modern Haiku from 2002 - 06. He's the current editor for Modern Haiku Press.

 

2 - 16 - 89

Dear Chris,

         Thanks so much for your generous "care package" of
Canadian poetry. This morning I finally got a chance to
spend some time with the books - - in the tub, my favorite
place! Of course, I am familiar with your name and
Margaret Saunders from the various haiku publications.
It was enjoyable to read some of your "long" poems
and to be introduced to some poets who I haven't met before.
Quite a few more things going on there in Toronto than
here in Lincoln, IL!

          In reference to your twenty years of odd jobs, I recall
Randy Brooks emphasizing how important it is for poets to
have "other" jobs. Where else to get material to write
about? Maybe this is why so many hollywood movies are
about the motion picture industry - - an indication of
their creative bankruptcy.

        I have only recently begun to write "long" poems again - -
my first since I was in high school. Actually, I didn't do
much writing at all for the past 20 years, then began writing
haiku again in earnest about a year and a half ago. Over the
years I had kept in touch with haiku by reading  and rereading
Blyth's Haiku, the only haiku books in English of which I
was aware. The interest in haiku today is just amazing to me.

      I had an opportunity to visit some friends in Peterborough
this past summer. In case you don't get Modern Haiku, I am
enclosing a copy of a little piece I did up there. I hope
you enjoy it. Also a story about a haiku gathering we had
in the St.Louis area this past October. Glad to hear you
are enjoying my little "mouse."

Yours, 
Lee     

 

when I squatted in an abandoned hotel for 1 1/2 years

 
In just about every Canadian city there are now homeless encampments. This is a new phenomenon for Canada, although it's not an unusual situation around our planet. The media has picked up on homelessness, so even if you haven't visited a larger centre recently, you are aware of this new problem in Canadian society, and its starkly obvious presence.

I experienced homelessness for several years, from 1969 to 1972. Born in Canada (Hamilton), my parents moved to the southern U.S. when I was seven. As a foreign national I was eligible for the draft for the Vietnam War, and I registered with the draft board as required when I turned eighteen. As I learned about the wrongheadedness of the war, I became an anti-war activist, which ultimately led to receiving three draft notices in one week in June of 1969. My father, who had been a squadron leader (colonel) in the Royal Air Force (RAF), definitely wasn't happy with my anti-war activism and resistance. He used to call me a "conchy", which is what conscientious objectors were labelled during World War Two.  

God knows why, but I agreed to my father's idea of going to the U.K, rather than returning to Canada to avoid induction and then jail when I refused. As a foreign national I would have been sent back to Canada anyway, which would have been a better situation for me, but then I would have missed living on the outskirts of London during the tail end of the psychedelic sixties. My uptight English cousin and his wife readily accepted some rent payment from my parents, but within a month they literally threw me out into the streets of suburban London. I tried living in a bedsitter, with another uptight English middle class family, but again I was thrown out for having visitors. For about a month I was completely homeless, and crashed on bedsit floors of other wannabe hippies and slept on a derelict boat moored on The Thames near Richmond.

One early adventure was visiting the infamous squat at 144 Piccadilly in the very heart of London. Here's the link to the chapter in my memoir which describes the scene:

http://www.eelpie.org/epd_02.htm  (Chapter 2 - 144 Piccadilly Squat)  

So far as I know, squatting hasn't arrived in Canada yet. It's the occupying of empty buildings by homeless people. Why freeze through a bitter Canadian winter in a tent, if you're lucky, when you can occupy an abandoned building. If I could lay odds with a bookie, I'd bet heavily that homeless people will start squatting in Canada very soon. The "inconvenience" factor of homeless people tenting in parks will then be replaced with the larger public and police outrage that the homeless dare to inhabit empty business buildings. In capitalist societies property rights always prevail over personal survival.

To my eyes, the failing pseudo socialist post WW2 society of the England I encountered in 1969 is now mirrored in the failing neo-liberal society in Canada. I couldn't believe the general wealth and opportunity in Canada when I arrived in September 1972. Back then jobs were plentiful and even a dishwasher could earn enough to maintain a decent standard of living. But . . . we've slowly devolved along with our even more rapidly deteriorating neighbour, the U.S.

These are sad and scary times for all of us, but even more so for those who have been marginalized into homelessness, most often through no fault of theirs, by a fading and devolving Canadian system which is sliding towards the chaos and poverty I experienced in the U.K. half a century ago.  

 

postscript: After crashing around western London that summer I ended up squatting in the largest hippie commune in Europe, The deserted Eel Pie Island Hotel for 1 1/2 years.

 

 

Chris at the helm of China Tea Steam Navigation Company circa 1969     

online petitions and donations - yep, they work!

I  sign several progressive petitions a day. It helps keep my aging mind alert and often the petitioners experience powerful real life results, as follows. As a low income senior I have to carefully budget donations to progressive causes. The fund raiser at Dogwood went to the trouble of sending me a personal thank you email for my $25 donation (which was tripled by a much wealthier supporter). Sure, this is humble bragging or virtue signalling, but then it's my damn blog  ;  )-  

ABDALLAH ALHAMADNI shared an update on Reunite In-Canada Citizens and permanent residents with their Gaza parents and siblings Check it out and leave a comment:

PETITION UPDATE


Bring Our Gaza Family to Safety in Canada
 

Thank you for signing our successful petition last fall to reunite Gaza parents and siblings with their families in Canada. We have already gathered 8200 signatures, and we still have much to do.
As we work towards a long-term solution for basic human dignity with justice for all in Palestine and to help families reunite in Canada, we invite you to join us in three simple ways to make an impact...

Read full update

Share the petition



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                                                         ~    ~    ~ 

Happy New Year Chris, and thank you so much for sharing!

I'm so glad you're sharing your light with the world through your blog, and that folks are responding so strongly to it. Bravo. It means a lot to have your support despite the difficulties of being on a pension - and all the way from Marmora, no less :) You took me on a quick Google Maps trip down memory lane right now, which I appreciate (old friends in Ennismore and Woodrous). I made a quick adjustment to our database so I'll only pester you for a gift once per year now - otherwise please just enjoy the news and do your part with the petitions and other actions. I'm glad you're on our team!

Happy new year,
Adam

On Mon, Jan 1, 2024 at 11:56 AM Chris Faiers <zenriver@sympatico.ca> wrote:
New Year's Best and Congrats, Adam, to you and the staff at Dogwood  ;  )-

Wish I could give more, but I'm a low income pensioner (a substantial part of my income is the income supplement). I try to budget donations to one a year per organization, which is why I held off until today to make this one for 2024. Great that the special donor is still tripling them!

Chris
Marmora, Ontario

 

Chris,

There was a round of cheers for you from Dogwood staff at our first meeting back after the winter break.

I was sharing how our end-of-year fundraising went (it was a great success by the way, thanks to you!) and everyone was thrilled to hear you and 487 other folks chipped in to get us ready for 2024.

The amount generous people like you donated more than made up for the foundation that backed out on us last minute, and the end of year budget coverage we needed to move into the new year fresh and ready to tackle the big challenges ahead.

On top of that, there was great news on the fracked gas front over the holidays: Fortis’ proposed gas line in the Okanagan was denied by the utilities commission, a decision almost unheard of by the historically pro-industry group.

Their statement explained that the pipeline wasn’t needed due to the decreasing demand for fossil fuels. 

This win could be one of many in 2024. There’s an exciting tipping point coming in B.C., thanks in large part to people like you.

Dogwood’s Director of Communications, Kai Nagata, lays out the oil and gas state of play in our province in this recent blog, give it a read! There’s a lot to be hopeful about.

Thank you again for making a contribution to Dogwood, we would be nothing without your support.

here's my New Year's blog posting. It recently went global, with over 300K visits now.