Will and Kate

on ornate balcony buckingham
family gathers to greet great crowds
it could be 1311
or 1611
but it’s 2011
and millions more watch in HD

the couple kisses

one could be cynical
about money
or marriage
or media
or marketing
or celebrity culture
or love itself

but what’s the use

Miles

he stands in the doorway looking down
he’s come to say something important

he seems to be holding back
not giving all the information

then his eyes meet yours and you
see the emotions in his silent stare

withered weariness
wisened wariness
cool caring
uncanny joy

in this controlled account
he reveals all life lived

Prairie April

in manitoba

late april and early november
much in
common

skeletal brown trees
drabness surrounds with muted colours
gardens bare
chilly winds push random leaves

but then
woman steps out
picks up rake
little boy and girl in tow
---------jumping and throwing shoes
---------running around in sunshine celebration
and a lawn of green hope springs out of hibernation

Easter Lily

bursts out from green stem
bright white openness in six curved corners

a miracle of fragrant beauty
facing me head on

a challenge to breathe in the six miracles of
                     -  faith
-----------gratitude life
-----------love --hope
--------------healing

Lunch with Stephen Harper II

ice tinkled in the glasses
a cosy diner in Osborne Village

he asked how I was doing with the cancer and everything
I said I was thankful for the Canadian medical system

he said that he had been instrumental in supporting the system the last five years
I said that’s not really true, if you would have had a majority
you would have moved towards a two-tier system
he didn’t reply

He said I’M HERE FOR CANADA

were you here for Canada when you hired a convicted fraud artist to work as a top advisor?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you wasted all that money in Clement’s riding for the G20?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you refused to fire Bev Oda after she lied to Parliament?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you refused to give Parliament financial details of how much the crime bill would cost?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you refused to hand over Afghan detainee documents to Parliament when they were asked for?
He said no
were you here for Canada when you attacked Michael Ignatief in TV ads for months and then said you didn’t want an election?
he said no
are you here for Canada when you refuse to answer questions from the media?
he said no
are you here for Canada when you tell your candidates not to attend all-candidates meetings?
he said no
are you here for Canada when you take credit for the economic action plan when you were basically forced into putting it in place by the opposition parties?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you cut funding to organizations including the CBC because of petty political reasons?
he said no
were you here for Canada when you refused to honour Canada’s commitment to climate change agreements?
he said no BUT I’M HERE FOR CANADA NOW
I asked him to pass the Ketchup

Haydn

he’s great to chat with

sitting on a grey stone bench
in the park
he’s got his legs crossed
---------and his scarf
---------often gets tangled with
---------his animated hands
----------------as he repeats something
----------------for emphasis
under a totally blue sky
with warm sun
---------relaxing every muscle

a simple conversation about
nothing really
but so
important

Good Friday

maple tree still bare
branches maze bow curve offshoots
Christmas lights hang limp

Lent V

more bad news
like dirty laundry
piling

Maundy Thursday
one man kneels to face
death

lord if this cup

the bitter cup of acceptance

hold in shaking hands
sipping

good news coming

Rachmaninov

his deep voice unrolls and you are transfixed

standing at the pulpit
------------he is stained glass

you are the only one there listening
colours dazzle eyes telling of
purple sadness
-----crimson love
---------blue joy
-------------green hope
-----------------black despair
pure white divinity

the colours echo your soul until
the depths of being are exposed

Palm Sunday

he wanted to take part
scuffling to front in sneakers------ t-shirt
swinging legs on front bench

other participants busy
middle-aged men kneeling
washing bumpy feet
friends hugging

boy didn’t know protocol
----------- come with someone else
the music will stop and then he’ll go back
head lowered

she wanted to take heart
shuffling forward in red wool coat
old black lady in white shiny church

takes water and towel and kneels
arthritic joints before him
and washes smooth boy feet

they walk back
having taken part
heart

Mahler

he takes you firmly by the hand and you begin
an arduous climb up the mountain

he is wearing explorer’s clothes
rough and ready

along the way he shouts encouragement
----------and you begin to notice little things

tiny blue flowers at your feet
a bird singing spring
breeze in your hair
beating of your heart

at the top he shows you
----------world at your feet
and you realize all that is possible

but it is in the
striving
that flowers bloom

Lynette at 16

she liked jumping
and contorting her body
at odd angles

now a stable almostadult
hair flowing --------framing round green eyes
--------her mother’s eyes

she takes her own exciting path
to womanhood
but honours
other paths as well

skating to the future
a perfect spiral
jumping and contorting
along the way

beautifully

Lent IV

the cold continues

lying on icy scanner table
----------each inch examined

waking up to snow covered world
----------robins singing confused

blanket at night too thin
----------shivering insomnia

scan reveals
------inner spark
=========ready to burst into bright flame
to melt and warm with resurrected
love

Schubert

he stops on the road and picks you up

and takes you on a journey
pointing animatedly at

crystal streams beside the road
deep green forests
snowy rooftops
mighty rivers
gentle hillsides
----------and he speaks of the
----------true life

and you travel

inward

seeing
jealousies
----resentments
--------guilt
-----------anger
--------------regrets
-----------------pride
--------------------disappointments
loves

gratitude

thanking the singer and the song

Signs of Spring

red jacket children
prance driveway with hockey sticks
woodpecker on tree

Vivaldi

he knows you well and hugs you in greeting

he sits with you in your warm home
chatting amiably about old times and new
his voice familiar and animated

sometimes you descend into valleys
and he is there with you
anchoring your distracted thoughts
to the particular beauties of the valley

a loyal friend whose arms
create a permanent
hoop around
your soul

This Body

this body of forty-nine years
of occasional
neckkinksbackpainkneetroublefootsoreness

what do I know of the inside
---------that has now
-----------------betrayed me?
with rogue legions marching into fearful territory

I know that it can still revel sunshine and rain
it can still extend towards others
and connect
it still has a heart that loves
always

Handel

he lays his hand on your shoulder as a blessing

kind eyes enveloping yours
and he fills your body with
the cornerstone confidence of knowing

--------what works
--------how darkness and light combine
--------where earth and sky meet
--------why strength and weakness exist

all around can be
chaos
-------despair
---------------pain
but his firm hand settles
a troubled heart

Lent III

grass
so long smothered by snow
now beginning to green
in patched randomness

ground
--------underneath
shaking off paralysis of frost
one millimeter at a time
allowing water to descend to roots

and so
slow spring
continues on apace
despite
our heart-bursting
impatience

Palestrina

he gives you room to breathe

as you sit in bright sunshine
on green hillside
watching the white wisps drift across the blue heavens

he simply points a wizened finger at your heart
silently asking the most important question
so that
eventually
that is all you can hear

and you lean back
in the beauty of the breathing
and answer with a prayer

Uncertain

I look down from seventh floor window
to see
Red and Assiniboine coming together
the forks
rising water threatens to touch bridge beams
ice chunks speed along in the current

what if ice jams cause flash flood?
what if both rivers crest at the same time?
what if we have a big storm at the wrong time?

I turn around in my hospital robe
and shuffle back to my room

Mozart

There’s always a smile in his voice

even in the dark of evening contemplation
he finds the sun’s warmth lingering

always there’s that playful chuckle
a reminder of
--------flowers in May
--------leaves rustling in the wind
--------songbirds in flight
--------Summer in Italy
--------God’s love
and you bask in the curve of the smile

Setback

it started so well
pink blossoms blooming daily
many now wilted

Brahms

he burrows deep into you with his grave eyes

a professor of life
making connections between

movement and stillness
the we and the I
love and longing
truth and lies
mortality and faith
hope and reality

leaving questions unanswered
thoughts unfinished

and you embody his gaze
surrendering to his art

Lent II

woke up today to grey rain
wet seeping into all synapses
creeping cat-like into thoughts
creating puddles of cold distance

rain turns to heavy snow
descending like nuclear fallout
after the bomb
waves of cold sadness invade

one of forty days
of imprisonment
before
release

Debussy

he doesn’t look at you

just stares into distance
fingering his coffee
and muses about

the beauty of mist in the streets
or the shape of clouds against pale blue
or the way sun reflects off hair
-----------of pretty girl across street

and you are entranced by the soft intensity of his voice
not wanting to interrupt lest you ruin the
-----------magical mood
he has created with sighs so soft and subtle

and nothing looks the same afterwards

Night Musings

black dark all around
turn on light to navigate
no switch inside head

Bach

he walks with you

a steady brisk pace as you struggle to keep up
so much going on
his conversation full of admiration for the order of things
each blade of grass and each insect playing a purpose
---------------in the grand scheme of things
even though we as humans upset the balance
his heart tries to work in lockstep with the
harmony of the universe as your heart fills
with the exultation of keeping track
---------------in his tracks of joyful complexity