From the tribes to Pistol-lock
Safety switched to off
Rails change gauges
Locomotive rusts behind a fence
The Oiler crouches low
With cartridges on hand
Washes dingy mangoes
Water tank strapped low
By silver wheels
3 coins for admittance
Or 17 with dry powder
Ignition proves difficult
With the absence of a fuse
Get your basket to the platform
Before the diesel glows
The wheels stutter, shovels put away
Replaced by urgency
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from Towns and Trains, Sudden poems 2016-2018
Swinging left
down darkened road
all smiles and wrinkles
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from Hotsprings and Stubbed Toe, Occasional haiku… 1992-2004
Download Hot Springs and Stubbed Toe (.pdf)
Evidence from mixed-media master Douglas Coupland’s exhibit at Vancouver Art Gallery – the assortment of items i captured from the wide-array of mediums he works with/in, are arranged into 7 volumes for convenience. This is volume 3, Slogans (my title, not his).
Continue reading Exhibit: Douglas Coupland mixed-media at VAG, vol. 3 (slogans)
Rest me Naught
The partisans attacked
Shortly after sun dawned
Trapped behind the lines
Two days after the treaty signed
Under grey sky I consider
Am I the last one to perish?
Perhaps the final number
In a redundant skirmish
Papers signed inky in a rail car
I’ll never chance to see
Peace comes for some
But no solace arrives for me
The religious get their rites
Murderers given last meals
I’m ordered a shovel
And to get down on my knees
Night-flashes of lost loves
Forever gone forlorn
First flash of eye glance
Waking early on a first mourn
Distant desperate acts
Seeking a fleeting peace
Unadvised by the muddy
The needy and the weak
Boots and coats removed
To strip last identity
The cold doesn’t sting
As much as anonymity
Trenches are flooded
Mortar shells rest unused
Canteen still has drops
Munitions stockpiled to abuse
Grandmother will never know
When my corpus lays
Flowers will grow eventually
While a Legion prays
I am unknown to no-one
Forgotten by unborn kin
What counts as victory?
Who credits this a win?
No photo in a locket
Soggy letters long left to rot
Telegrams remain unanswered
No lover to forget me not
(All my years for naught)
Stopped by the delightful Last Word Books in OlyWa (Olympia, Washington) – one of my faves in the world and holds loads of memories for me, as well as curates the “Uncle Weed Collection of Cannabis Books” (unofficial name). The location is onto the 4th in downtown Oly and is laden with both trad lit and all sorts of grassroots publications including from their in-house Last Word Press. Oh years ago they purchased the inventory of famed Port Townsend anarchistic publisher Loompanics iirc.
The proprietor Sky Cosby is as eclectic and energetic as they come running bookshop, publishing imprint/press, also circus activities, perma-culture homesteading and other renegade community activities and initiatives. Rather remarkable fella indeed.
Continue reading Typewriter (etc) Variety Pack – Last Word Books, OlyWa
To remind and inspire myself, i often photograph envelopes before they embark on their journey. The fronts contain folks’ personal address (which i shoot to keep a record i never actually look back upon to recall who i’ve mailed) so i shan’t share that bit, but i will gallery up the backs – really for no purpose, just for amusement and artsy funtimes.
This batch all feature a stamp or stamps about dog(s), variations on a “theme” i suppose.
Inventory:
Folding tray with snacks: dried mangoes, cashews, chewing gum, this very notebook, cork covered sardine can camera with expired 35mm Fujifilm, headphones, diazepam, food delivered by an unhappy hostess, strange spicy clams, instant cup rice and a sort of curry sauce.
##
from Towns and Trains, Sudden poems 2016-2018
Hidden mossy rock
busts up big toe
without apology
##
from Hotsprings and Stubbed Toe, Occasional haiku… 1992-2004
Download Hot Springs and Stubbed Toe (.pdf)
Evidence from mixed-media master Douglas Coupland’s exhibit at Vancouver Art Gallery – the assortment of items i captured from the wide-array of mediums he works with/in, are arranged into 7 volumes for convenience. This is volume 2, Collection (my title, not his).
Continue reading Exhibit: Douglas Coupland mixed-media at VAG, vol. 2 (collections)
Postcards sent Dec. 2017created by/purchased from Stick No Bills – creators of fine artisan postcards from Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) – Vol. 4 (of 6), feat. landmarks, hotels and other tourist-minded commercial art
Continue reading Post’d:Stick No Bills (Sri Lanka, 2017) vol. 4 / landmarks of note