Harper/McGuinty 'bushrat' kidneystone operation (graphic content!)

A particularly persistent kidney stone has been bothering me since mid-January. As I've suffered many kidney stone episodes since my first hospitalization around 1980, I was able to follow its progress through my urinary tract with some degree of awareness.

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

When Chase & I got to my  ZenRiver Gardens retreat I had to pee, & then the weak, very restricted urine flow suddenly & surprisingly shot the stone the length of my penis!!! ... argggggggggggggggggghh! ... but it didn't exit ... I could see this jagged, poisonous looking, black lump at the exit of my urethra - but it wouldn't drop out, like stones usually do.

So I did the sensible thing, & drank a beer, with hopes of pushing the stone to its final exit with a beer blast of pee. I also took a 500 mg Tylenol, then another - and I couldn't stop myself from inspecting, with much horror, the blood dripping from the tip of my works. As I felt around, I realized it might be a much larger stone than I've had in the past - usually they're the size of a BB pellet when you pass them, sometimes even smaller.

 But this was some kind of monster kidney stone - no exaggeration - I considered driving to an emergency ward, which truly would have been the sensible thing to do - but then I've never let the sensible get in the way. So like some crazy old bushrat, I finished my beer, stopping several times to scare myself with the jagged black horror starting to emerge.

 After the beer & the Tyelnols & several unsuccessful attempts to pry the stone out, I managed to grip the monster with my fingertips & pull it out!!!! It's over half an inch long (5/8 inch) and over a 1/4 inch wide  (3/8ths of an inch). CRAZY SELF OPERATION! I feel I've joined the company of the hiker guy who hacked off his trapped arm in the desert canyon several years ago.

 apologies for the graphics, but still can't believe I did this ...

 back home now & prepping some dinner & drinking a glass of wine - now I don't have to keep pouring beer thru my system in attempts to flush the bastard out ...

Milton Acorn's plaque at the Waverley Hotel

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HT & the Toronto Legacy Project launch new Plaque Program

March 3, 2010 - 1:38pm

Heritage Toronto

Blue plaques highlight the contributions of artists, thinkers, scientists

Heritage Toronto and the Toronto Legacy Project, in partnership, are launching a new program of commemorative plaques that celebrates the bygone lives that helped to build the city of today.  Each plaque will mark a site where a notable artist, scientist, or thinker lived or worked.
Many cities have similar programs, such as London, Paris, New York and Barcelona. Toronto has the Cabbagetown People plaques, but this is the first city-wide initiative.

"This program will certainly increase awareness about the depth of talent that has always existed in Toronto," said Mayor David Miller. "These first plaques creatively commemorate some of the writers and poets who played a major role in building Toronto's literary legacy."

"This program will enrich our cityscape," said Toronto's first Poet Laureate and founder of the Legacy Project Dennis Lee. "And it should still be going strong a hundred years from now."

The first six plaques will be unveiled today at City Hall, the first honouring prominent poets and writers: Milton Acorn, Margaret Avison, Morley Callaghan, Robertson Davies, Gwendolyn MacEwen and E.J. Pratt. The program will continue steadily, with six to eight new plaques annually. The first plaques will be installed in the Spring.

The Partnership

The Toronto Legacy Project was established by Toronto's first Poet Laureate Dennis Lee in 2002 to celebrate Toronto's notable artists, scientists, and thinkers by weaving their names into the cityscape. Initially focused on naming or re-naming facilities, such as Oscar Peterson Place (at the Toronto Dominion Centre), Glenn Gould Place (formerly Metro Square), and George Faludy Parkette (at St. Mary's and St. Nicholas Streets), the Toronto Legacy Project is currently focusing on this new plaques program.

The Toronto Legacy Project and Heritage Toronto share a common commitment to memory - to marking, on our streets and in our public places, the names of those who have given us something worth celebrating. This new program reflects the merging of the Legacy Project's focus - individuals who have made a major contribution to the arts, science and thought - with Heritage Toronto's long-standing Plaques and Markers Program. Using criteria jointly established for this program, the Toronto Legacy Project and Heritage Toronto work closely to select candidates and plaque locations.

Selection of Candidates and Plaque Sites

To be considered, individuals must have made a major contribution to the arts, science or thought. That contribution must be recognized by members of their own calling, and must be well documented and broadly acknowledged. Candidates must also have had a strong association with the City of Toronto through birth, residence over a significant period of time, or through the connection of their work and career with the city.

Plaques must be installed on a site which has a well-documented and strong connection to the life or work of commemorated individuals.

Candidates for the plaques are put forward each year by the Legacy Project. The public is invited to submit names for consideration to both Heritage Toronto and the Legacy Project.

The Plaques

Simple and elegant, each plaque uses a few words to identify the person and place being honoured. Plaques will be installed either on the front wall of a building or on a post at the sidewalk.

The striking design was contributed by the Toronto firm, Hahn Smith. Each plaque is an oval, 30 cm by 18 cm, with bold white type on a blue background. The oval retains the shape of Heritage Toronto plaques; the blue retains the colour of Legacy Project markers at Oscar Peterson Place and other sites, while referencing the official colour of Toronto.

The first year's plaques commemorate writers, following the "Literary City" theme of Toronto's 175th anniversary. Future plaques will celebrate figures from a wide range of disciplines, and across the full history of the city.

Heritage Toronto and the Legacy Project are grateful to the property owners who have accepted the 2010 plaques, and to the City's Culture Division for funding their fabrication in this initial year. The plaques themselves remain the property and responsibility of Heritage Toronto.

The First Honourees

MILTON ACORN

Milton Acorn was probably the most colourful figure in the history of Canadian poetry. A carpenter from Prince Edward Island, and a man of passionate convictions, he wrote poems that came, in the words of Al Purdy, "somewhere close to greatness."
Acorn lived in the Waverley Hotel, at Spadina and College, from 1970 to 1977. He published five collections during that time, winning the specially-created People's Poet Award in 1970, and the Governor General's Award in 1975.

MARGARET AVISON

George Bowering, the first Canadian poet laureate, calls Margaret Avison "the best poet we have had." Her austere and compassionate work, which frequently reflected her Christian faith, received two Governor General's Awards. At the age of 85, she won the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize for Concrete and Wild Carrot.
Avison lived in the Fellowship Towers at 877 Yonge Street from 1984 to 2007, and published seven books in that period.

MORLEY CALLAGHAN

Through the first half of the twentieth century, Morley Callaghan was seen as the preeminent fiction writer in English Canada. Hemingway promoted his early stories; Edmund Wilson ranked him with Chekhov and Turgenev. He is still admired for the clear-eyed humanity of his work, and for his finely-honed prose.
A Torontonian, Callaghan lived at 20 Dale Avenue from 1951 to 1990. During that time he published fourteen books, among them such classics as The Loved and the Lost and That Summer in Paris.

ROBERTSON DAVIES

Robertson Davies was known for his prodigious output, with nearly fifty exuberant novels, plays, and essay collections to his credit.
Davies' enduring reputation rests on the novels in the Deptford Trilogy, which began with the celebrated Fifth Business. He wrote them while serving as the first Master of Massey College, where he lived from 1963 to 1981.
 

GWENDOLYN MACEWEN

Gwendolyn MacEwen's rich and visionary poetry continues to impress critics and other poets, and to fascinate new generations of readers. Douglas Barbour calls her "a wonder, a poet of legendary process-of how the everyday becomes supernatural reality."
From 1983 to 1987 she lived at 240 Robert Street. Here she published five books, including Afterworlds, for which she received her second Governor General's Award.

E. J. PRATT

During his lifetime, Edwin John Pratt was widely considered Canada's greatest poet. His book-length narrative poems were hailed as national epics, and he is still regarded as one of our major writers.
Pratt came to Toronto from Newfoundland, and taught for decades at Victoria College in the University of Toronto. From 1932 to 1953 he lived at 21 Cortleigh Boulevard, where he wrote nine books, including Brébeuf and His Brethren and Towards the Last Spike. Three of these volumes won Governor General's Awards.
 

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pics of ZenRiver Gardens: double rainbow, shaman shack, sacred rock face

RETURN TO QUINTE ARTS COUNCIL DIRECTORY

Purdy Country Litfests (PurdyFests)

Contact: Chris Faiers

P.O. Box 69, Marmora, Ontario K0K 2M0
zenriver@sympatico.ca

 

ZenRiver Gardens.  Photo by Warren Fraser.

 

PurdyFests are annual ‘tribal gatherings’ of poets in the greater Marmora area. The more formal events take place on August holiday weekends, although people begin arriving days in advance, and some linger afterwards to continue enjoying the wild natural beauty of the Quinte region.  

 

These cultural gatherings are a tribute to Al Purdy and his famous poem, “The Country North of Belleville.”  Purdy, with his wife Eurithe, hosted a generation+ of Canadian writers at their famous A-frame cottage in Ameliasburgh. PurdyFests continue the Purdys’ genial tradition of hosting urban poets in our natural and relaxed environment.

 

PurdyFests are also a celebration of “People’s Poetry,” as exemplified by Purdy’s close friend, fellow Governor General’s poetry recipient, Milton Acorn. The first PurdyFest, held in 2007, was the brainchild of poets James Deahl and Chris Faiers, and professor/philosopher Terry Barker. Deahl and Barker had previously organized several “Controversy” symposiums on the role of People’s Poetry. These three old friends and comrades decided to expand the somewhat academic scope of the Controversies to include poetry readings and other populist events, and PurdyFests were born.

 

ZenRiver Gardens.  Photo by RD Roy.

 

The summer gatherings have become a kaleidoscope of people camping at Faiers’ ZenRiver Gardens retreat in the hamlet of Malone, SYMPOSIUMS on key aspects of Canadian culture and literature, casual events such as the traditional Friday night POTLUCK SUPPERS, democratic ROUND ROBIN POETRY READINGS on the islet in the Marmora dam following the symposiums, and pilgrimages to local sites, such as Purdy’s grave and A-frame, the nearby sacred First Nations’ Petroglyphs Park, and leisurely hanging out at Faiers’ ZenRiver Gardens retreat on the Upper Moira River.

 

PurdyFest #2 in 2008 focused on Al Purdy, THE VOICE OF CANADA’s poetic legacy, and PurdyFest #4’s symposium in 2010 focused on Ted Plantos, “the Cabbagetown Kid.”  2011’s symposium will feature presentations on seminal Canadian modernist poet Raymond Souster. Now 90, Ray’s newest collection, BIG SMOKE BLUES, will debut at PurdyFest #5.    

 

Many hundreds of poems have been performed, almost as many have been written, and dozens of poetry collections have been launched at PurdyFests. These include two key anthologies, CROSSING LINES: POETS WHO CAME TO CANADA IN THE VIETNAM WAR ERA, and LEFT A PLACE TO STAND ON: POEMS AND ESSAYS ON AL PURDY.

 

L-r: Dr. John Burke and Chris Faiers at PurdyFest #4 at ZenRiver Gardens.  Photo by RD Roy.

 

A sampling of readers, presenters and musicians at PurdyFests includes a WHO’S WHO of Canadian poets and writers: Allan Briesmaster, Kent Bowman, Katherine Beeman, Jeff Seffinga, Carol Malyon, Julie McNeill, Anna Plesums, RD Roy, Tai Grove, Jim and Alastair Larwill, Omaha RisinG, singer/guitarist Morley Ellis, Martin Durkin, James Deahl, Terry Barker, Chris Faiers, Marie Wilkins, Deborah Panko, Peter Rowe, Pearl Pirie, Theodore of Snowlion Meditation Shop, John Hamley, Gail Taylor, Mick Burrs, Simon D’Abreu, Terry Ann Carter, Claudia Couture Radmore…  the impressive list continues to expand each year.

      

The main events day for PurdyFest #5 will be on Saturday, July 30, 2011. The Canada-Cuba Literary Alliance (CCLA) will feature a group reading at ZenRiver Gardens on Sunday, July 31. The Potluck Supper will be on Friday, July 29.

 

For further information on all aspects of PurdyFests, please contact Chris Faiers

P.O. Box 69, Marmora, Ontario K0K 2M0
zenriver@sympatico.ca

reading Conrad's poetry on the shaman shack deck (Bridget bird review)

I received Conrad DiDiodato's book a few days ago, and took it with me for a couple of afternoon readings on the shaman shack deck at my ZenRiver Gardens retreat. This is a test of sorts - the poetry had to compete for attention with the Moira River's spring run-off, newly arriving songbirds, Chase begging biscuits, cold Zywiec beer, and a nagging kidney stone.

Bridget Bird, Conrad's first collection, passed this literary gauntlet with flying colours. It's hard to believe this is his first book, at age 55. The poetry is masterful, engaging and relaxing. Instead of competing with the constant peaceful distractions, Conrad's poetry flowed as naturally through my afternoons as the river's gurglings and the birdsong serenades. A lesser book wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes, and a bad book risked being flung into the not-so-mighty Moira's flow to the Bay of Quinte.

The familiarity of the circumstances of the first poem grabbed me. Sixteen Mile Creek is the story of an autistic boy who drowns. Two locals died in similar tragic circumstances in the Marmora area last spring. One man took a shortcut home across a too-thawed beaver pond, and never returned alive. His widow and I chatted several night ago in the Mac's Milk parking lot. This introductory poem's synchronicity made me immediately receptive to the book.


Sixteen Mile Creek

At mid-stream, adrift in reedy sand, face down,
he likely caused rifts in this creek.

        (for raw hands slap down last,
              careless how they land)

Hard like spites in the ear
is the last splash (as only the leaden do, at dawn)
         of faith, hearts & poor Ron

                   Same to god if autistic boys sleep or drown

Cleaving to leaves is futile
unless lights can tell hair from starfish, shoes from shorts
            Suns scratch them out, like this,
                     and discount
                                  clothing clotted & sent to port

Poor discounted Ron! I'd say I was the first to see him
and seer enough to shake a few lines loose
         out of miles of leaves & sands : &

                   reedy waters slapped
                             hard in the autistic ear


This is humane evocative "people's poetry" in the tradition of Canada's greatest poets, Milton Acorn and Al Purdy.

I read on, and began dogearing favourite poems and passages for repeat reading and for writing this reflective review. I should have stopped this task after vandalizing the first few pages - in less than a week the book has that ratty, well-thumbed look of other favourites on my poetry bookshelf  :  )

from the poem Zebras & Things

But it's an old spidery autumn moon
 deep in the night,
prickly, wild-eyed & bright

 can poke the water
so full of holes that the stars fall through
 & glisten in sandbar


Almost haiku, and maybe even more so!


More sandbars in the poem Lake (no pun intended):


Sandbars, not too far out, a shale-brown foot
 below the water
(not a lot down there, in just
 a foot of water)
But tides here ripple withe the minnow & serve as
 fish- or eel-comfort


Kell Verses is a beautiful homage to poet Katherine L. Gordon

it begins:

She sits on her stone seat,
 beside two tractor wheels,
musing, the jug beneath her feet,
 earth of clay round her heels -
dear Kate, prophetess of rivers,
 who sends me lone breezes.
When day dies, giving pale slivers
 of light, and night freezes.


In just 63 pages of Bridget bird Conrad manages to share his clear-eyed and yet mystic vision. Again, hard to comprehend this is his first collection. And I know he has already written new poems  which prove his creative arc is growing. Conrad kindly let me blog post his poem on the recent 'honour killings' of three sisters and their aunt. His heartfelt, yet almost simplistically styled poem, For Zainab,Sahar, Geeti, and Rona, sits among the highest ranking pages of my 300+ postings. To my chagrin, it is the most-read poem on my blog, far ahead of any of my creations. Congratulations and thank you, Conrad, for sharing this fine collection. 55 years is far too long to wait for your next collection  ;  )

Bridget bird by Conrad DiDiodato
Serengeti Press, 2012
63 pages

Serengeti Press
Box 146, RR #3
Puslinch, ON
N0B 2J0

Edited by Jeff Seffinga (no wonder the poetry is so damn good!)


reflective review by Chris Faiers
For several years I was a regular poetry reviewer for Canadian Book Review Annual.
I've also reviewed for the haiku mag Inkstone as well as other poetry mags.
Recently I was a national judge for both the Acorn/Plantos People's Poetry Medal
and the annual Canadian Poetry Association contest.


credit: This review and Conrad's poem For Zainab, Sahar, Geeti and Roma was published in
Quinte Arts Council's magazine Umbrella, May/June 2012, Volume 22, Number 2 - p. 7                             

                                          * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * *



Conrad DiDiodato has left a new comment on your post "reading Conrad's poetry on the shaman shack deck (...":

Thanks, Chris

the "16 Mile Creek" (in Oakville) poem is based on a true incident, about 10 years back. It's actually one of my favourites (of course, Bridget bird is numero uno)Most of these poems are actually at least a decade old. And your perceptive eyes saw the 'haiku' influence: I was for many years involved in an active Eastern community where I met some amazing people.

Thanks for a kind and compassionate reading of a book it's taken this ultra-late bloomer a long time to write.

Have a good one!

Conrad



Posted by Conrad DiDiodato to Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens at 27 March 2012 10:39


                                                * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


C Duffy has left a new comment on your post "reading Conrad's poetry on the shaman shack deck (...":

Do pass on my congratulations to Conrad Didiodato on his first book in print. I'm leaving this comment here because for some reason I am unable to leave it at his own blog.



Posted by C Duffy to Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens at 29 March 2012 10:08


                                                * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Resurrection of Canada's PEOPLE'S POET Milton Acorn Imminent

IN A SPRINGTIME INSTANT, the new selected of Canada's People's Poet Milton Acorn, is about to go to press!

Last night I caught up with Terry Barker, the godfather who initiated this project, and Terry assured me the many and various final details have been ironed out, and copies of the book should be printed within weeks. 

Now we need your help in resurrecting the legacy of Milt, a major poet in Canada's literary canon, and one many sister/fellow poets consider Canada's very finest. 

The Mosaic Press book committee, consisting of editor James Deahl, Mary Hooper, Milt's sister and literary executor, poet Joe Rosenblatt, publisher Howard Aster and behind-the-scenes eminence Terry Barker have done their work. Others have helped where needed, including Toronto poet Anna Yin, Milt's other sister, Kay, his poet brother, Robert, and me in a minor role as tub thumper. 

It's been over a quarter of a century since Milt passed, and we are concerned how best to resurrect Milt and his poetry through sales and distribution of this book.  

If you would like to help Mosaic with this project - book sales &/or launches, reviews, readings, radio or TV interviews, or even anecdotes about Milt  - please email me and I'll forward your information to Howard at Mosaic.

zenriver@sympatico.ca

Or contact Howard directly, or any other member of the book committee.

Thank you for your help with this. Peace and Poetry Power in Milt's memory!
- Chris Faiers
from blog Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens:

http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.com/


                      **********************************************


following is an earlier posting on the new Selected

beginning the Resurrection of Milton Acorn ... PurdyFest #6=AcornFest

Our 6th annual Purdy Country Literary Festival (PurdyFest) will honour the life and legacy of Canada's People's Poet, Milton Acorn. Following is my review of Terry Barker's 2006 book to give readers an idea of the importance of Milton Acorn to Canadian poetry.

Mosaic Press will be releasing a new selected of Milt's work, In a Springtime Instant, in 2012. The 250 page collection will be introduced with forwards and introductions by James Deahl and Terry Barker. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of Milt's organizing the Free Speech Movement in Toronto, along with fellow poet Joe Rosenblatt and many others.

This summer's Symposium will feature the life and work of Milton Acorn, and we are inviting presenters to participate.


                                                     * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 

The Unacknowledged Acorn "Beyond Bethune: People's Poetry and Milton Acorn's Metaphor for the Canadian Fate" by Terry Barker review by Chris Faiers Milton Acorn received Canada's highest literary honour, the Governor General's Award for Poetry, in 1975. A few years earlier a motley congregation of fellow writers, including Margaret Atwood and Al Purdy, had laid the foundation for Acorn's overdue recognition by presenting him with the unique "People's Poet Award" at a disreputable bar on Spadina Avenue. Terry Barker is an academic who was a longtime friend of Acorn and other practitioners of "people's poetry". Barker, too, is deserving of special recognition for his ongoing contributions to analyzing Canadian poetics - in a time when poets and their art are completely marginalized and ignored. The essays in Barker's book add up to a full-bodied historical forum on the philosophy, poetics and practice of people's poetry in Canada. Unfortunately, his book is likely too academic, too unhip and obscure to register on more than the most sensitive of antennae. But the messages Acorn thundered from the ether of the northern lights, the power of the spirit of the true north, strong and free, will be read and intuitively understood by those crucial few vibrating antennae. Barker knows poets are the proverbial canaries in the coal mine, the unacknowledged legislators of our age. Terry Barker takes poets and their messages very seriously. In these final years of the American empire, the necessity of an awakened Canadian spirit with a backbone as strong as the Shield are a requirement for our northern survival. Acorn preached this, and every Canadian worth their salt should learn more about Milton Acorn, Canada's People's Poet. Barker's book will stretch you philosophically, socially, politically, poetically and spiritually. Terry, Uncle Milty the raven shaman, is cawing his thanks! Beyond Bethune is published by Synaxis Press 37323 Hawkins-Pickle Road Dewdney, BC Canada V0M 1H0 174 pages; paperback. $30 Review "The Unacknowledged Acorn" is copyright by Chris Faiers. Reviewer Chris Faiers received the inaugural  "Milton Acorn People's Poet Medal" in 1987. His poetry has been widely published, anthologized and broadcast. Faiers spent a decade as the head librarian in the village of Stirling, Ont.

 ____________________________________________________

and another earlier posting

 

the Uncles are bird spirits now (poem for Milt & Al)                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                           

the Uncles are bird spirits now

flying thru realms

tricksters, obvious in their choices

Milt, the raven spirit

and Al,

the gawky blue heron

your poems foretold this

Milt cawing angrily at the dense humans;

Al, more sanguine

more grounded,  multi-dimensional:

heron lives in water

air the daily flightpath home

these only two of the incarnations

you love to fool us with now …

Uncles, so many days you visit

flying, laughing free

through the spirit world

only poets & shaman

can begin to comprehend

we earthbound beings

yearn to fly with your flocks

raven, heron floating above

trickster turtles swimming with awkward strokes

sun basking in A-burgh’s millpond

poet friends transform

before my inner eye …

Jim D. chooses heron

as does John B.

while Larwill is the new raven king

the sun shines too brightly

through your new kingdoms

water transparent

as these words

heron zazen stalks

while turtles meditate

all deeply carved

into the teaching rocks

at Petroglyphs Park

we would miss you

except you visit so often

you are almost as annoying

in the next world

as you were in this one 

Chris Faiers

(copyright)

From my blog: Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens

http://riffsandripplesfromzenrivergardens.blogspot.com/

              *  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

* * * spring haiku * * *

          spring sun
melting children's snow fort
           tunnels


    frogs croak
spring horniness
April Fools Day


       rain
  intoxicated
frogs jumping


 first spring rain
   mudpuddles
crossing the road


      stone house
   roof demolished
wallpaper flowers sun


cabin one week old -
 a bird nest growing
    in the rafters


Green Tara dusk:
 on a calm river
 reflections flow


green garden hose
     spouting
    a rainbow


   middle aged May Day
I stain my backyard fence
               red


     in this cove
   waves stirring
palm frond reflections


    tropical gardens:
walking on pathstones
    of seafan fossils


    spring flood:
on a runaway dock
    ducks nesting

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


Conrad DiDiodato has left a new comment on your post "* * * spring haiku * * *":

fog-
the gull's shriek is
all there is



Posted by Conrad DiDiodato to Riffs & Ripples from ZenRiver Gardens at 20 March 2012 04:38


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



To celebrate the Spring Equinox I've presented the "spring" chapter
from my 2008 collection ZenRiver: Poems & Haibun
2008, Hidden Brook Press.

Some haiku were written in the 1960s and published in the handful of
existing haiku mags such as Haiku, Haiku West, Janus SCTH, Haiku Highlights,
Southwind  and in my two 1969 chapbooks Cricket Formations and Guest in a Garden.
Others were composed from the 1970s through to several years ago.   
   
The Vietnam War and the changing of countries and locales many times
during my life, as well as the lack of a keen interest in academic 'counting coup'
regarding publication, has limited my ability to accurately record
the publication history of many haiku. Apologies and thanks to the missing
publishers. 

Green garden hose and First spring rain did appear in
Anthologie Canadienne/Canadian Anthology (1985).

Green garden hose also appeared in Synesthesia in Haiku
and Other Essays (1990),  Canadian Haiku Anthology
(1979),  A Magical Clockwork (2000), and The Modern
English Haiku (1981).   

'Retirement' is finally allowing the time, stability & potential boredom
to track down further anthologies and texts where my haiku have been published
over the decades.


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


Today is the first day of Spring, {in the northern hemisphere}  the zero point of Aries. Each sign has thirty degrees starting from zero and culminating in the twenty-ninth degree. Aries is the first of four cardinal signs. The others are Cancer {first day of Summer} Libra {first day of Autumn} and Capricorn {first day of winter}.

Cardinal signs are outward oriented. They begin changes in the outer world. Don’t ask these folks to happily change themselves first. Johnny Paycheck, Aries,  wrote a couple of songs that exemplify this theme; You Can Take This Job And Shove It .... and ... I Wish That I Had A Job To Shove.

Think of Aries fire as a great meteor streaking across the sky. Think of Aries as charging ahead with executive power. It’s a powerful time in our lives. When I think of Spring I imagine revolution. Plants pushing away gravel and rocks to reach for the sun. Retailers put away winter clothes, we clean well, everything. The skies are dappled with returning migratory birds. We see what the white blanket of snow has hidden.

We return to feast our eyes on the miracle planet.

Don’t expect the world of politics to become more peaceful now. Aries is ruled by Mars, the god of war. Look to my next paragraph to shed light on why. This zero point of Aries in your horoscope has buckets of meaning. It’s the destruction point of past conditions. Your astrologer can help you find it.

Try to spend a little time in the next few days contemplating what you need to really change to get a better deal from yourself and the world, like a peaceful heart and mind, or better material or spiritual living and especially think of , etc. As we finally wind down from Mars’ last month of retrograde and Mercury’s trickster’s ways ending its retrograde on the fourth of April, you will better know what to keep and what not to keep.

The Sabian Symbol for the zero point of Aries is so intriguing; a woman emerges from the deep sea, a seal is embracing her. This image conjures the Jungian archetypes of the divine feminine rising to awareness, caregiving of our internal and earthly ecologies, and the embrace that the natural world has for us as mature caregivers and stewards. A kid steps on an anthill with unconscious pleasure, an adult watches the industry and miracle of ants skillfully creating a home in the earth. And which are we?

We have the choice of taking up arms against our anxieties, big pharma loves this, or listening to our dread, our never ending sense of aloneness. So all the changes are not external, Spring can germinate within. Astrology tells you that you are connected to a living and responsive cosmos.

How can I help?

Michael Zizis

96 Benson Ave.,

Toronto- M6G 2H8

ph: 416/651-0096


michael.zizis@sympatico.ca
http://www.michaelzizis.com/

blogs:
http://piscesrevisited.blogspot.com/
http://theaquarianconspiracy.blogspot.com/
http://2aquariansinagarage.blogspot.com/
http://notwolfkillbarbie.blogspot.com/2010/11/2012-unbearable-wetness-of-being.html


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

England/sheep grazing/among gravestones (haibun)

following is a chapter from my memoir:

EEL PIE DHARMA - a memoir / haibun -  © 1990 Chris Faiers

Chapter 22 - Lavenham My father came over to visit me one summer.  He wanted to see how his son was doing, of course, and he wanted to show me Newmarket, the little town he was raised in.  He had rented a car, and after visiting me in the hotel for a day or so, we drove into Suffolk, a county to the north east of London. Like much of England, it was like driving back in time. Little villages on narrow, hedge-lined roads winding through neat fields.  On the outskirts of one village we even had to drive the little Escort across a cattle crossing - the road dipped into a stream bed, and we had to slowly cross through half a foot of lazily moving trout stream: England sheep grazing among gravestones We toured Newmarket, my father's boyhood town, a picturesque village which had long been the headquarters of Britain's horse racing and breeding.  For a treat he decided to show me the ancestral home of the Faiers, an even more quaint and tiny village called Lavenham.  There was one main street, where the many coloured thatched houses leaned drunkenly into each other down the hill. We booked into the Swan hotel, a famous landmark often used in BBC films and tourist promotions. After dinner we strolled to one of the several local pubs. The tiny pub only seated about twenty or thirty, and on this quiet summer evening only eight or ten of the local men were slowly sipping their pints: Lavenham houses staggering down main street Eric told me that most of the people in Lavenham were named Faiers, and that afternoon we had met one or two locals who duly turned out to be distant blood relatives.  The facial features were quite amazing to me, many of the people having the same narrow configuration around the nose and eyes as my father and my brother and myself. To make his point further, my Dad asked if anyone in the pub was named Faiers.  All the locals nodded assent, and then he asked, "How many of you spell Faiers F-A-I-E-R-S?"  Again all nodded assent, and Eric said, "A round for all the Faierses in the house!"  The locals didn't seem to mind this bit of show-boating by the dapper little Yank with his longhaired son, and everyone drank a toast to the name Faiers: Balding father hippie son in an ancient pub The next morning Eric dragged me out of bed early, and we had bacon and eggs in a cafe on the main street.  We were quiet, as I was still coming to life.  and as we were preparing to leave, an old gentleman who had been sipping his tea came up to us and said, "Good morning, Mr. Faiers, and Good morning to you, too, Master Faiers."  One of the regulars from the pub from the night before had recognized us, and it was a welcome way to greet the morning, feeling a part of the history of a town where our family name had been the mainstay since at least 1066, when the Domesday census was collected. Eel Pie Dharma is protected by international copyright laws. Individuals may print off a copy of this work for personal use only to facilitate easier reading.

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also published online on Weed's website since the early 2000s

Haiku Canada Review, Volume 3, #1  February 2008

ZenRiver: Poems & Haibun, Hidden Brook Press, 2008