from behind dark clouds

the bright full blue super moon

slowly emerges

 

 

CYBERCENE

 

 

first leaf falls from tree

slowly and one by one

the other leaves follow

 

 

Emile-Antoine Roy-Sirois

[1991 - 2022]

 

Ukraine Civil War

called you to die for a new

Spanish Civil War

 

 

 

silent city streets

every day felt like Sunday

isolation time

 

bustling city streets

dandelions growing tall

Springing to life time

 

 

Brittney Newman

1995-2022

 

decapitated

in front of your sons still you

did not lose their luv

 

 

 

Rene Robert

1936-2022

 

left to freeze to death

on a Paris street still

your photos warm life

 

 

Aruka Juma

? - 2021

 

the last Juma man

gone like too many before

his voice is silent

 

 

 

Andrea L. Blankenship

1979 - 2021

 

he stole your heart

and cooked it up for dinner

your soul remains free

 

 

Brazil burns bright

in her forests of the night

we just sit and watch

 

 

cloud galleons soar

across the big blue sky sea

to infinity

 

 

 

Jupiter stands guard

beside waning full moon in

silent pre-dawn sky

 

 

HIGH DOLTAGE

 

 

COVID deniers

partay cuz tomorrow they

die-and they do

 

 

 

TWEETHEART

ZOMBIENCE

TWEETOTALER

 

 

rogue jedi koan:

 

right

wright

write

rite

 

Do four rights make a wrong?

 

 

 

NOOSEPAPER

NEUROTIQUE

PRUDITY

ROCKIT SCIENCE

 

 

FAN ATTIC

FANATIC

FAN ADDICT

 

 

 

SCORN FLAKES

 

 

blue heron stands on

tree branch wide eye staring

into deep blue sky

 

 

 

BRAIN SPOTTING

 

 

 

cool wind stirred bulrushes

red wing blackbirds were silent

fled south for winter

 

 

hot sandy trail

led to submerged Presqu'ile beach

Carson was gone, too

 

 

 

SWEET LOVE TIGER

 

PACHINBO

 

BLUE OXYGEN HEAD

 

 

 

Canada goose flaps

silently over the surface 

of the rippling lake

 

 

in my dream the ants

were running the show not mice

Adams would panic

 

 

the high warning note

of the red winged blackbird

cautions stealthy Spring

 

 

soft morning darkness

sparrows in the branches

sing the sun awake

 

soft evening darkness

sparrows in the branches

sing the sun asleep

 

 

INCGODNITO

INKCOGNITO

 

DEPTH RECEPTION

ELEFONT

BRAZILENT

DEATH PERCEPTION

 

 

ODE TO MY TOILET

 

For you, loyal friend

I make no bones

 

I know who has won

this game of thrones

 

To sing your praises,

I would take to Twitter

 

And haply proclaim you

!the world's greatest shitter!

 

!Way to go, Toilet! 

 

!!KEEP IT DOWN!!

 

 

Collage of Fishicians and Sturgeons

 

 

KARMAGEDDON

 

IMMORTALES

 

ALGORYTHMS

 

ANGAELS

 

SOONSET

 

CINNANYM

 

CAFFAINE

 

TRUMP L'OEIL

 

 

 

the soft falling snow

blankets the sleeping world

Santa Claus is near

 

 

 

Stan Lee

1922 - 2018

 

Ne'er more will Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four

And super heroes the multiverse o'er

Thrill to hear your exultant roar:

''Nuff said!  !Excelsior!'

 

 

 

CYBOCENE

 

 

the bloodiest year

causes Toronto to shed

the bloodiest tear

 

 

 

ECLIPSIS

 

 

 

Jane Creba

1990 - 2005

 

shot dead in the face

while enjoying Boxing Day

your ghost still haunts Yonge

 

 

 

 

DEATH BY HANG

                      I

                      N

                      G

 

DEATH BY HANGING

 

DEATH BY

 

DEATH

 

!I AM DEAD!

 

HTAED

 

!YOU ARE DEAD!

 

DEATH

 

!WE'RE ALL DEAD!

 

ATDEH

 

HEAT D

 

DEATH

 

T. HEAD

 

DEATH

 

THE AD

 

-inspired by the allegorical

Nagisa Oshima film, 

DEATH BY HANGING (1968)

 

 

 

 

STARCISSIST

 

 

lone leaf falls and is

whirled by wind to ground

first death of summer

 

 

 

condos tower o'er

tiny lonely old Fort York

ghostly soldiers sulk

 

 

 

fire flowers bloom

across the brooding hills in

the gathering dusk

 

 

 

do not ask for whom

the danforth tragedy tolls

it tolls for us

 

 

 

INCUNEBULA

 

 

 

Doctor Mark Ernsting

1976 - 2015

 

you were stabbed nine times

last stab left the blade in skull

all for a night stroll

 

 

 

 

ten dead confirms

the banality of Evil

killer so horny

 

 

 

HEXIGENT

 

 

 

 

Sudan,

last male northern white rhino,

died March 20, 2018

 

lowering your head

you charged into history

your spirit lives on

 

 

 

Lonely Death

 

is what the Japanese call

 

someone who dies alone

in a messy apartment

filled

with piles of magazines and newspapers

and

empty food containers and dirty tea mugs

like my apartment

 

 

 

 

SYCAFONT

 

 

 

raw sewage pours

into Burrard Inlet

everyone gives a shit

 

 

 

dangerous driving

th'other national pastime

sixteen more dead

 

 

 

 

WRECKONCILIATION

 

 

 

Union

 

Out of the GoTrain, into the bustle

If ya wanna keep up, ya gotta hustle

Can't be afraid to use some muscle -

Get outta the way, this is Union!

 

Racing to the bathroom I seek

Always desperate to take a leak

Hiding in a stall so you can't peek -

Can't be too careful in Union!

 

Everywhere people are on the go

Street level and the floor below

Stop for coffee and a jolt of joe

Gotta keep moving, this is Union!

 

Matching pace with the hectic beat

Up the stairs on frantic feet

Free again in the wandering street

Always a relief to leave Union!

 

 

 

 

 

misty morning fog

hides the skyscrapers out leaps

CN Tower top

 

 

 

 

 

SINTHETIC

 

 

 

Ode To Grand Master Richard Corben

 

Your flights of fantasy have inspired us all

From ROWLF to MURKY WORLD in HEAVY METAL

You have brought to life poignant Poe

And rekindled fears of the Cthulhu Mythos

Reimagined a thousand and one Arabian scenes

And inspired magic on the silver screen

To the delight of fans each and Everwhere

Including always awestruck and grateful Gar

 

 

 

Ayman Derbali

 

your courage ignored

yet if you had been a Christian

you'd be a hero

 

 

 

Mona Piper

1930 - 2018

 

others talk the talk

you walked the walk four decades

stood on guard for us

 

 

 

Candace Turk

1982 - 2016

 

all alone that night

did you fail yourself

or did we fail you?

 

 

 

two hockey players

Canadien and Maple Leaf

struggle arm in arm

 

 

 

 

COSMOSIS

 

 

 

 

cod and salmon runs

used to astound both coasts

now just a memory

 

 

 

 

Christine 'Chrissy' Archibald

1987-2017

 

you flew to London

to be arm in arm with love

did you even hear

 

 

 

 

Kristy Hodgson

1986 - 2017

 

killed while walking

the driver not even fined

they call this justice

 

 

 

ROBOTOMY

 

 

the black moon swallows

the sun signalling

that the muse now rules

 

 

 

 

Saint Clair

 

The unusually

Looooong

Staircase and escalator

That you need to 

Get off the platform

Evoked the unusually

Looooong

Escalator needed to

Get off the platform

Of the Granville Street Skytrain station platform

In Vancouver

How appropriate that

The toney and tree lined streets of Forest Hill

Outside the station

Evoked the equally

Toney and tree lined streets of Vancouver

 

 

 

 

GLIBIDO

 

 

 

 

 

Toronto 'Island'

 

What a disappointment!

Cracked roads, beat up picnic tables, 

Overflowing garbage and recycling cans,

Strange people failing to be as weird as me

Sneeky skeeters

I just wanted to leap on

The first ferry off this dump

And get back to Toronto!

 

And then I reached

The far eastern side of

The sandbar

Walked along a fittingly sandy path

Through some trees

Whispering in the wind

And stepped out on to the soothing beach

And was awestruck by

The seemingly infinite

And mystic

Blue expanse

Of Lake Ontario

Before me

As infinite and full of possibility

as Canada

Reminding me why it was a Great Lake

That Toronto 'Island'

Had hidden

From the downtown core

 

And suddenly I understood

Why people ferry over to 

Toronto 'Island'

 

 

 

 

 

Point Roberts

 

there is no point to you

a Canadian tank

should have smashed through

your U.S. border post

and returned you to Canada

decades ago

 

 

 

cloud shadow ripples

over the undulating

flank of the still earth

 

 

 

 

 

TELEPATHETIC

 

 

 

a young woman

in ragged clothing

sat begging

unnoticed

in front of Union Station

on a beautiful summer's morn

throngs of people

of all ages, ethnicities, races, religions, sexes and sexual orientations

strode past her unconcernedly

as if she was already a clinging ghost

her head fell despondently

and she started to sob

tears rolling down

her white cheeks

 

never saw her again

 

 

 

 

Queen's Park

 

Another blah station

But how appropriate

That one of your exits

Leads to U of T

And its idealistic and

Crusading young students

On the left

And the provincial legislature

And its jaded and

Conservative old politicians

On the right

 

 

 

 

Seein' Tower

 

wherever you go

in Toronto you are

always creepily watching

 

 

 

BUCKANEER

 

 

 

 

Dundas

 

You lead to a 'square'

That is always crowded

But curiously empty

And devoid of imagination

And love - 

Very square, indeed

 

 

 

 

 

FANDROID

 

 

 

 

Saint Andrew

 

Your station is blah

But it leads to

Roy Thomson Hall,

The star filled walk 

Royal Alexandra theatre,

Princess of Wales theatre,

TIFF

 

Ironically proving that 

Outside the blah station, 

Allegorical art is indeed

 

King

 

 

 

 

Saint Patrick Station

 

There once was a station named Patrick

Whose patron saint banished all snakes priapic

But passengers left the station to view

AGO art that was often quite nude

Causing Patrick to have a fit positively tantric!

 

 

 

 

Museum

 

Your silent

Egyptian and Mayan sentinels

forewarn of our own fleeting dynasties

remind us that we too will disappear

like the departing subway car

 

 

 

PENUS

 

 

 

 

Osgoode

 

How ironic that your dour name

Upholds the staid laws of the land

While you release

Confined passengers onto the 

The perennial carnival and colour of Queen

 

 

 

 

New Berczy

 

dogs urinate with

their mouths in rising levels

at a golden bone

 

 

 

 

Tet A Tete

 

How appropriate that

The Tet offensive

Surprised the U.S.

The year I was born

Given that the book and essays 

On this site

That erupted out of a

Fatal helicopter crash

On a simulated Vietnam War set

Have also taken the U.S. by surprise

 

Thus, when I meet that special lady

And we have that special son

His equally offensive name should be

Avro Ho Chi 'Avi' Wright

 

 

 

 

?Toronto streets are

always busy but always

getting nowhere?

 

 

 

 

HOLLOWGRAM

 

 

 

 

 

LEONARD COHEN

 

you left like you lived

glaringly unobtrusive

casually momentous

devastatingly reassuring

mysteriously clear

spellbindingly liberating

 

 

 

 

 

REFRIED BEATS (?-2016)

 

the whole block was gone

erased

replaced by a gaping dirt hole

awaiting the insertion of

another glass and concrete

condophallimum tower

taking away packed bins

jammed with inspiring music

and truly moving pictures

taking away leopard skin arms

and a presumed love of classic coke

taking friendly warmth away

from a cold city

taking away

 

a part of us

 

 

 

 

BAY BLOOR BLUES

 

you lay on the corner of Bay and Bloor

raggedyman in a sleeping bag

left arm outstretched on the sidewalk

eyes closed

palm open

face an agonized mask

when the lonesome pain grows too great

you unleash a sudden sepulchral shout

of such despondent agony

that guilt stricken passersby

quickly open purses and pull out wallets

and carefully place money in your proferred palm

 

did you wind up on Bay and Bloor

distraught by the death of your wife and children in a car accident?

did hit the street after losing your job?

did you go mad?

or did you lay down on the sidewalk in your business suit one day when you were fed up with the rat race

and never get up?

 

 

 

 

UDIQUITOUS

 

 

 

 

Alaskan territory

why have we abandoned you

to the Yankee wolves

 

 

ANDROIGYNOUS