Winter Garden

 

There, in my tender mind's eye our

summer garden still thrives in grand

colourful insouciance, a vivid reminder

of loss in a winter landscape whose

confined colour palette wearies my

consciousness that reverts to dreaming

of summer breezes, a searing sun

casting brilliance over the banished

splendour that roses and lilies awaken

my grieved sensibilities to mourn.

And does nature care that we are so

deprived of the joy of summer gardens?

She remains removed and singularly

unimpressed. This is, after all, her

world and we its tenants. These are

her seasons and she has her reasons.

Our gardens are her gardens in very

fact, on loan in the most temporary of

ways. Yet empathy does not completely

elude her. She nudges us to notice and

regard her very own unrivalled winter

garden, there for our visual comfort.

 

 

Winter Walk

 

The early morning sun illuminated

the house this morning in contrast

to the days when grey gloom

pervaded the atmosphere within

and without. Clear blue winter skies

come with a pricetag bringing icy

temperatures in lieu of snow and 

so cold that blustery winds wreak

havoc on warm-blooded creatures

huddling in their shelters. In the

forest among the trees where snow

yet remains on trunks and branches

and the forest floor is steeped in ice

all is still, no birds sing or flit about

much less the furry denizens last seen

frantically in search of denning-up

victuals to over-winter. Tramping

through the forest trails with their

winter-entrancing landscapes we

briefly savour the sharp air tingling

our nostrils, pinching our cheeks

as we watch the antics of our little

dogs clad as we are in winter gear

seemingly impervious to discomfort

entranced by the atmosphere, at one

with the forces that shape our world.

 

 

The River Remembers

 

The historic river where the raucous

shouts of coureur des bois once rang

loud as they encountered riotous rapids

runs deep and wide. It is a river where

great fighting sturgeon and carp can still

be found, ancient fish too skilled at

evading those whose hunger for fame

in the world of fisherfolk reeks of

urban legends.  Great pine forests once

bordered the shores of that wild river

harvesters sending the felled giants

on their journey downriver, the river

bottom deep in their shed bark leavings.

Now it is small pleasure craft that ply

those waters, their white sails shining

in the sun. At this winter season though

nearby residents await the freezing up

of the river for fishing huts to spring

into presence, hopes of catching one of

the legends still uppermost in mind. On

this early winter day, a weather anomaly

crests over the river; above, the sun 

gleams through the clouds while snow falls

in a squall that obliterates sight lines as

an ice fog wraps the river in recollection.

 

 

You Are A Jew

 

You remember with great clarity when

as a child you were cursed as Christ-killer.

You are a Jew. You recall those persistent

queries by strangers to have you state

where you were really from when you

responded Canada. You are a Jew. It is

never far from your mind in childhood

watching your parents and their friends

gathering quietly, whispering to one

another words that meant little to you

but which memory dredges up, words

such as work camps, concentration camps

and death camps. You are a Jew. When

you became old enough you read about

the Inquisition, Pogroms, the Final Solution

and quivered in helpless rage. You are a

Jew. Because you are a Jew you developed

a sixth sense, knowing and fearing and

yet hoping. Because you are a Jew when

you hear certain phrases they stab your

soul. Now other generations experience

what you did and as they do your own

simply continue as Jew-hatred consumes

the minds of psychopaths everywhere on

this Earth. You shudder when you read

and you hear and you see repetitions of

the familiar. You see, you are a Jew.

 

 

Marathon Man

 

How to sketch the physiognomy of

the man friends and acquaintances know

as a triathlete for whom no physical

challenge has ever been a daunting prospect

and who even now has the demeanor and

physique of an athlete bursting with an

abundance of nervous and physical 

energy his wife laughs of in despair

for she lives with the agonizing pain

and suffering while we only see glimpses

of it now and again wondering how it can

be sustained and how it is possible that a

man with such physical resources and

enduring stamina has been left reeling

in the wake of sequential failures of

body parts requiring surgical interventions

therapies, patience and brief intermissions

when relief signals him to address those

beckoning hurdles to break more records

even as his body breaks, a body worn by

a man whose police rapid-response work

failed to satisfy his urges exposing him to

recurring danger, pursuing prowess in

setting standards and outdistancing them.

He is stoic, this man, in his suffering, taking

comfort from the concerns expressed by

friends wishing him a swift recovery from

the latest of so many surgeries destined to

restore his failing body for yet another and

another glorious exertion extraordinaire.

 

It Becomes You

Surely there can be little doubt that though

it is formally cast as a noble reminder 

nudging the holder to commit to its standards

a conscience can seem extremely annoying

for those who view it as totally expendable.

On the other hand, in close communion with

one's subconscious, the two work in tandem

requiring little introspection resulting in 

reaction and action and in this manner

expresses the deepest core values that a

human being can attain to. Think of it:

conscience challenges us to think of the

welfare of others. That constant in our lives 

steers us unerringly toward behaviour we

have no reason to feel derelict in. No reason 

to feel much of anything in fact since 

however we are guided by that prod 

thought is redundant in favour of simply 

responding as we know we should and 

will, and get on with our lives. The conscience 

asserts its presence as a reminder to our alert

consciousness when we become aware

of events, agencies and personalities

absent conscience leaving in their wake

a moral wasteland and we are reminded

time and again of the vicissitudes of

human nature and the boundless exchanges

that identify us as immune to the stirrings

of a latent conscience finding favour in the 

more pedestrian exercise of its guidance.

 

 

 

Humbug: Hallowed Hollow Esteem

 

No mere commodity to be devalued

by any, social capital is an integral

part of our public persona as much as

it is an instrument of personal pride and

self-assurance. Once the display of

personality was the precinct of the wealthy

the socially connected, the powerful and

the celebrity class attracting attention

admiration and awe for having risen

from among the pedestrian clay for

inheritance, charisma, political clout

and power bestows on its holders an

aura of greatness difficult to define

since it is but an aura and nothing more.

Ah, the bewilderment of those in the

greater aggregate interpreting aura as

entitled admiration yearning for their

own place in the warming sun of public

acclaim. Enter the magic of the Internet

and all that was rare has become common

aspirational and open to all. Simply

synthesize the attributes of stardom

and claim them for one's own. Readily

accomplished in the fantasy world of

social media where frankly casual

admissions of superiority are channelled

eliciting attention and approval and 

lo and behold another star is born

shining high on the firmament of ego.

 

 

Restraint

 

You like this woman, much younger

than yourself, for her bright intelligence.

You think she feels the same about you.

When you meet an exchange of warm

greetings, where a hug seem appropriate.

She is married, her husband as close to

uxorious without being nauseating, two

very nice people. When you speak so

animatedly there is always much to discuss

usually matters pertaining to local and

world news as lively discussions ensue.

It can be a refreshing experience those

spontaneous conversations, each adding

somewhat to the information gathered by

the other. She is scrupulous with her

distinctive appearance; willowy is the

word, with an eye to style. So when she

wears a close-fitting shapely winter coat

the eye follows and the thought lingers

can she be warm enough, albeit unspoken.

You recall your annoyance when your

mother would observe of your middle-aged

figure that in her opinion you looked gaunt.

The deep vertical creases in your friend's

once smooth face mirror the pains she takes

in her diet, the cheeks drawn, eyes now

hollow, the smile as bright as ever, the

contrast unnerving. You grope for words

and swallow them, instead committing 

to commenting how 'delicate' she looks.

And when she turns her face askew to

ask whether that's a compliment, you

smile right back and say, yes, of course.

 

Lauding Terror

 

In brief, what are the verities but a

movable feast viewed through the lens

of faith and ideology, the merest mist

of wavering the signature of the

uncommitted those who move

effortlessly between love and hate

and in their subconscious hate is

inextricably linked with faith when its

raison d'etre extolls the extermination

of those whose differentiated verity

fails to align and the veneer of civilization

slips, revealing the savagery of morbid

hostility rewarding the deaths of

innocents with promises of glory

where the exploits of slaughter are

feted and the death-deliverers become

celebrated, renowned role models

in an ancient ritual that speaks to

the hordes as a hallowed obligation.

 

 

'Tis Life, My Friend

 

Sad to say my friend your choice

while still young and full of optimism

has come back in your old age to sting

you with the reality that was waiting

in the wings yet coyly masquerading

as love when all it represented was the

opportunity of escape. You, on the other

hand, are at a point in life to which

there is no escape and you yourself

engineered the landscape that has shaped

the present in an disagreeable tableau

that would never have occurred to you

back at a time when you felt so eagerly

flattered by the amorous attention of a

nubile young woman anxious to escape

the smothering lack of promise that

her rural background represented while

you were the urbane, sophisticated and

unhappily married older salesman 

unable to resist a future with a young

and pretty woman whom you could shape

to your own devices only to discover

environment had already shaped her

and you are now left alone, lonely and

elderly inhabiting a 'retirement home'

while she, still young, occupies the

family home, has the vehicle and enjoys

countless trips to exotic destinations.

 

Mythic Realities

 

Lilith was too sensuously demanding

and Adam was too fearful of her

urgency. He regarded Eve with her

bashful nubile hesitation obedient to

his demands and all was well. Lilith

went her way establishing her own

dynasty of women regarding themselves

superior to the weak vacillation of men

taken aback by the impudence of women

of impulse and confidence, complacent

in the thought that Eve would remain

forever compliant until the day she

challenged and offered Adam opportunity

to view existence outside the familiar

to explore and satisfy his curiosity

not knowing he had none and would

not take the apple she had nibbled to

infuriate the tree's lawful owner who

ordered them expelled. Eve's stark 

disobedience did not fall far from the

tree that Lilith had long since abandoned

to forge her way in the world against

the condemnation born of suspicion and

fear borne of men toward women.

 

Doubly Wronged

After the war, thousands of Jewish children ended up in orphanages all over Europe as a result of the Holocaust. The toddlers in this children's home in Etterbeek, Belgium, survived in hiding, but their parents had been deported to Auschwitz.  US Holocaust Memorial Museum

The night of broken glass was the

opening salvo in a monstrous solution

that dispelled disbelief, the occasion

when the dire message signed, sealed

and delivered gave warning and nudged

the conscience of the world to grudgingly

permit the transport of children from

Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia

Poland shipped off to Britain then to

Israel, Australia, Canada, the United

States for haven from certain death at

the very time when doors were being

slammed in the face of Jews desperate

to escape what became the inevitable.

The passage of a lifetime where young

memories lingered on the faces of parents

their voices, their assurances, their

absolute absence from existence yet

haunting those children surviving the

curse of the Holocaust. But wait, on the

cusp of death themselves now their

lifespan ebbing they are assured the

reparations that a different Germany now

proffers, diligent post-war in rescuing

the nation from its atrocious place in

history to make amends. Cash awards

an apology yet nothing can restore lives

stolen and memories laden with sorrow.

The official view that bestowing cash

compensates the vacuum in bereaved

children's lives as brutal as the original

campaign to destroy all Jewish life.

 

United In God

 

Existence of all life forms, animate

inanimate, is a random result of nature's

endless yet indifferent formulaic measure

of the universe created in a primordial

and timeless vacuum through an ongoing

cataclysmic shrug. Her formula in the

creation of humanity included hubris so

deep and vast the creatures themselves

took pains to create an Almighty fiction

to whom all creation could be attributed.

In turn investing that creative spirit with

the venomous emotions entrusted to mankind

of jealousy, greed, passion and the imperative

to shelter all the treasures that resourceful

nature left at the deputized command of 

man from the grasp of rivals. This supra

natural deity demands of his faithful full

obeisance, their very lives elevated to a

greater plane of existence in exchange 

for human slaughter. Extolling the very

conquest of all humanity in the greater

treasury of surrender to the whims and 

wishes attributable to the powerful and

frightening one on high exuding strength

and extracting awe while commanding all

to submit to jihad to overwhelm reluctance

of those without faith, while among those

of the faithful a pitiless war of attrition

among themselves forms the base of total

wholesale destruction of the human race.

 

Raging On

Atlantic Canada Holocaust Education Foundation

It it SO frustrating attempting to

conduct a rational discussion with Jews.

They are beyond irritating, argumentative

stubborn and irrational. Tell them there

is no evil intention in discounting their

inflated numbers of Jewish deaths they

call the Holocaust and they shrink back

in horror as though you were the very

architects of Hitler's Final Solution. Say

to them that they as an identifiable group

have not been the only ones that have

struggled against odds, but they surely

must shoulder some of the blame since

as a race they are so ... exclusionary ...

so ... hostile ... so scheming and cunning

... so arrogant ... little wonder they are

accused of trying to control ... everything.

People resent that kind of self-appointed

grandstanding in finance, communications

you know, that kind of thing. Their endless

tedious accusations of anti-Semitism they

label any and all critics is blatantly lacking

in respect over reasonable debates such as

criticism of Zionist aspirations depriving

others to empower Jewish nationalism.

But people of good will like us become

accustomed to their manipulating ways

and we'll keep on trying to get through

to their better natures, those prickly Jews.

 

Its Denizens

 

The density of the tree growth in the forest

is impressive and so is the topography

called a ravine yet so widespread that

there are many ravines, many rivulets

at each of the valleys sided by steeply

sloped hills that shelter the rarely-seen

animals for which the forest is their

natural habitat. Accessibility to the

forest not far from a large urban area

is far from difficult with many points

of entry for the curious and those who

enjoy exploring along with their equally

curious companion animals eager to

lope along the trails that emerged long

ago when animals and then people began

to launch a presence in the byways and

hidden areas of the forested ravine. It is

where teens meet secretly at night to

light fires both to sit around and smoke

weed and drink, occasionally to torch the

hollowed-out interiors of majestic old

pines. It is where fleeting glimpses of

deer and foxes, raccoons and skunks can

be seen as they slink from trail to under

story. It is where nocturnal animals hunt

the owls and raccoons and a new breed of

coyote whose heritage is wolf and coyote

and when dusk enters and night falls it is

best to find shelter from the eerie silence.

 

 

The Utility of Strangers

 

If I were reading a book and it became

too intense I could put it down for a

break, but confronting me was no book

but an irate stranger whom happenstance

has placed before me as he waxes

indignant over the state of world affairs.

I did nothing other than to be there when

he was also there in that public place

where books line the library shelves

my presence somehow goading him to

approach and ventilate his distemper with

the times. In the process revealing more

than any stranger might want to know

outside the pages of a novel yet his

eagerness to reveal himself kept me

prisoner to his rants as did the bristling

bulk of his aroused presence with no

easy escape beyond courtesy for who 

am I to shun anyone in such obvious need

as this man born in Cuba to a barefoot

doctor, himself attending university in

Russia travelling to Tunisia because he

spurned Communism and atheism. As a

Christian he found no comfort sojourning

in Tunisia despite its cosmopolitan flair

ending up in my country, now his impression

of its glaring faults mystify and enrage him

as he acquaints me passionately with

every one of his disappointments in life.

 

 

Qualms

He is but a vain, ignorant and shallow man

who confuses the dignity, honour and

power invested in the office he holds with

attributes that he does not himself 

exemplify. It is, above all, the power in

the position temporarily his that he feels

reflects the glory of an absent intellect

and inability to but mock the cerebral

functioning of those superior to him

holding positions meant to guide his own

while his quixotic decision-making sends

quavering shivers down the spines of

world leaders for any decisions he makes

in the full fallibility of his flawed character

through the intrinsic majesty of his office

inevitably impacts the stability of the free

world upon whose freedom the decisions

emanating from his office traditionally

guarantees. He is a madman run amok

and the dilemma is that lawful democracy

and the people's will placed him in

such authority that others can only hope

he will in due time be but a footnote in

history which cannot pass soon enough.

 

Humanity's Salvation

 

No event can contend with the emergence of 

new life fresh with the dew of spring's

awakening to excite, awe and delight for there

are scant few observers and participants alike 

who are not taken with the birth of a dimpled 

child much less new births of any creature 

presenting as an exquisite immature version of the

maturity that will eventually overtake them.

Without doubt it is monumentally fitting that 

the whole of creation appears to be fixated on

the birth of a child as a momentous occasion 

in world history leading to the emergence of a 

worldwide religion. The elder version hailed

as the Prince of Peace delivered his universal 

message in a transmission of earthly life as a 

gesture from the God of Abraham. And how

peculiar it is that it had to be a Jewish child 

whose identity as the voice of God transfixed 

vast multitudes. How much more peculiar that 

those worshipping multitudes chose those of 

the Prince's heritage to single out as unfit for

habitation among the faithful, to view them 

with scorn and derision while hailing the 

miraculous deliverance proffered by the Almighty

through a Jewish heritage as a light unto the

world in one fell swoop gifting the world with

the brilliant light of salvation gratefully 

accepted while rejecting iniquitous Judaism.

 

Insufferable Insubordination

 

The ultimate order of power lies in the

capable hands of none other than nature

the ultimate creator. As vast as the universe

is, it is in fact but a laboratory where nature

devises her scenarios, arranges chemicals

and mixes her uncountable elixirs to produce

galaxies, their suns and the planets that

revolve around them leading her to turn

toward the micro-level of inspiring new life

forms upon them to study the properties that

evolve and transform. On one planet alone

that we are most familiar with she has 

created and disposed of billions of living

species most found to bore her and thus quite

expendable, leaving a remaining ten million

to prove their value to this most exacting of

creators who just happens to ferociously tend

to minute details in guiding her decisions. 

Much is known of human predecessors. Much

much more is unknown and will not be known

as nature, afire with the spirit of creation

creates endlessly and disposes with casual

ease. She may now be bemused that the

upstart human race has evolved as a most

impudent and insubordinate creature which

in its spoilage of nature's resources threatens

her primacy and the existence of all that

thrive, on this her least mysterious planet.

 

Wholesomely Yours

 

What could possibly be more comforting

than to know that no matter how you

disport yourself, irregardless of the

manner in which you may be regarded by

the rest of the world your family will always
stand by your side. As an ego restorative there

is nothing quite like an abundance of allies

who share a significant quality that you also

are part of and as brothers are foursquare

with you. Sudan's ruler may be regarded as

a mass murderer, but there he is pledging

loyalty to you, Syria's butcher. And though

the Arab League's 22 member-states saw

fit to disown you Bashar al-Assad, blood

will always win out even if sectarian ties

separate you for you are Arab born and as

such belong to this distinguished gallery of

thugs and mass murdering states ruled by

royalty and tyrants and sheiks, military

leaders and backgrounded by the clerics

who never hesitate to issue deadly fatwas

against any who deny the world of Islam's

basic tenet of bringing peace to the world by

embarking on a jihad against the nations of

war deigned such for refusing to submit. You

Assad, will be enjoined to rejoin the Arab

League for their members have missed your

presence and in an act of magnanimity now

pledge to endorse your honoured presence.

 

Meddlers

 

 

Busybodies, they are here, there

and everywhere. Vigilant

to a fault in ferreting out

instances where they can intervene

knowingly proffering

an unsought solution to an

absent problem. Quite possibly

these are insecure personalities

seeking attention even admiration

certainly affirmation that what

might elude others is plain

to their way of thinking. They

have all the answers to all

the questions that bedevil society

quite aside from the fact that

no one has sought their opinion

and when it's given it is viewed as

an inappropriate and irritating

addition to a situation viewed as

quite complete as it is. They flatter

themselves as philosophers. Those who

prefer civility will grimace and pass on

while others with justification will

plainly reject the gratuitously smug

interference with a well-chosen

phrase of contempt. Perhaps we see

in ourselves a glimmer of the very same

predilection successfully subdued

a discomfiting awareness of a

similarity between ourselves and the

maddeningly insistent bore society

collectively holds in contempt.

 

 

Definition of a Jerk

 

This is a message

to the anonymous bicyclist

who bristled at being named a jerk

and then went on to diligently

prove that he wore the

descriptive with distinction

when he refused to give way

and permit two elderly

strollers along a forest path

to resume their blocked perambulation

preferring to have them stand

before him while he argued

unpersuasively that he most certainly

failed to fit the model of a jerk

because he had slowed down

considerately, he emphasized

and murmured excuse me

and his close passage did not warrant

being labelled a jerk even though

the one who credited him with

that soubriquet alerted his

companion seconds before 

she was likely to become a casualty

of an impending collision.

You are the sow's ear

that the term fits like a silk glove.