Strip Mall Medicine in Ottawa, Ontario, Part Two: The Plot Thickens Based on a John Grisham novel of the same name, Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic courtroom drama The Rainmaker recounts the trials and tribulations of fledgling lawyer Rudy Baker, played by Matt Damon, who is forced to take work as an ambulance chaser with..
This porcelain heart This porcelain heart May crack with the weight of time Or shatter through mishap But it will live in my heart Until stern death do us part. Tanka poems follow a set of rules. They all have five lines and each line follows a pattern: the first line has five syllables,..
The Hummingbird: A Tanka Poem For Leigh Bateman Hummingbirds flutter Hovering above the abyss. My wings are broken, Turbulence before collapse, Bright colours before the crash. This poem is dedicated to my good friend Leigh Bateman, a birder par excellence. The poem was inspired by the work of art you see posted as..
Spring 1969, London, Ontario. Grade 12, Oakridge High School A friend named Chris Turnbull had somehow inherited a car. Probably his parents handed over this dilapidated vehicle when he turned 18. His decrepit Dodge was something of a jalopy. But it was equipped with an 8-track cartridge player: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-track_cartridge You inserted a clunky music cartridge..
Ikebana Haiku Anne’s art, Ikebana,* Gives birth to Haiku poems, Tranquil, so pared down. https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-haiku/ “A haiku is a type of Japanese poem that always uses the same number of syllables in a three-line format: the first line is five syllables the second line is seven syllables the third line is five syllables..
For Andrea Robin Skinner Our family has not been left untouched by domestic violence. My wife comes from a community shattered by alcoholism and by the entire gamut of abuse, stemming in large part from war and cultural implosion. She has worked with a vast array of victims of domestic violence, sexual..
Bug-Itis got a-hold on me …or don’t let the bedbugs bite About 400 years ago, when I was a student at Oakridge Secondary School in London Ontario, one of the major events of the institution’s social calendar was a yearly dance featuring a group called the Mandala, commonly referred to, for some unknown reason, as..
My American Cousins, July 4, 1963, St. Albans Street on the corner of Church Street, Enosburg Falls, Vermont For Tammy MacBryde Farr Folding chairs and outdoor dining tables festooned with colorful paper table cloths were positioned at regular intervals across the vast corner yard of our cousin Robina MacBryde Randall’s Vermont home, like a series..
New Canadian Class 1968 On August 21,1968, my wife Anne’s country was invaded by the Soviet Union. The invasion of Czechoslovakia took place the day before Anne’s 10th birthday. The Soviet Union was intent on putting an end to what is known as the Prague Spring, a period of reform in Czechoslovakia that challenged the..