Notes on Harper IV

The problem, Stephen, with turning your back on everyone once they're not needed or are in the way is that eventually you have to ask one of them for help again.

After the Wake

Still the blossoms fall, cascade from my table,
still the glade of faces on the patio bar murmuring,
still the young plump-muscled men bounding up the street,
the days stack before me and sprout rungs,
still each second seethes.

To work, all a writer needs to know is he’s being read and must write better.

On politics IV

To Garth Turner: Thank you for illustrating the Tories’ hypocrisies and disrespect of the electorate, and their high-school malice in Parliament ... taxing income trusts, bribing only those with money and children to vote Tory, dividing the middle class into trenches of self-interest, keep 'em coming ... I confess I was sad when you didn't respond to my letter asking how the Liberals are going to tack the Tories to the wall over the reproductive rights committee they filled with social conservatives, but I’ve moved on.

To Stéphane Dion: So, Stéphane, how are the Liberals going to tack the Tories to the wall over the reproductive rights committee they filled with social conservatives? Low-hanging fruit, Mr. Dion.

To Gordon O'Connor: Speaking of easy targets, give up Gordon. Be a man and call an inquiry into the torture of prisoners passed to Afghanistan. If you’re not going to admit our strategy in the war is like beating a bees’ nest, admit you’re wrong about this and help treat the drones well on both sides: Support our troops.

On politics III

To Stephen Harper: Brooding, Stephen? Polls not rising like you dreamed? like you strove? You may draw together a plurality of people to vote Conservative on a day when the lighting is just right and the air is sticky with resentment, but will even a church basement of people vote for someone who discards his reputation the moment he takes office? tosses aside the open government he brandished? neglects pensioners suffering from a brutal, abrupt taxation of income trusts, despite your promising otherwise? tries to tether the judiciary to the ideology of the day, never mind it being one of the three free-standing pillars holding up democratic government? not only tries to remove rights already granted but shuns a Charter of Rights loved across the country and envied by others—and whose architects I understand included at least three Tories? eviscerates Liberals on the stake of corruption but won’t reveal the salary taxpayers pay for an image consultant kept in the shadows? Bugging you Stephen? Just a little?

Careful now. In a government of one, who is there to blame? Repudiate your principles long enough, people might think you want power for its own sake.


To Stéphane Dion: Nice to hear from you. Good job with the optimism and glad to see your suit and haircut fit. Enjoying the criticism of the Tories’ neo-conservatism by stealth, and grateful for the ads: He’s Hip He’s Cool He’s Stéphane Dion. Just keep working on de English.


To Jack Layton: STOP MONKEYING AROUND! Do not. Attack. The Liberals. We know the advantage Harper will take from a divided centre-left. Witness the leg up the NDP gave Mike Harris in Ontario in 1999 by drawing support from the Liberals. McGunity was actually winning until Howard Hampton cried at the polls half-way through the campaign and attacked McGuinty out of convenience to save face and party status. The result? More homelessness, more impoverishment for Toronto, higher electricity costs, hidden deficit, Walkerton.

For once, for once, fall on your own sword. You believe in secular social justice? Fight the party that will disembowel its institutions and paradigms and let the Liberals be. They’re not perfect but they will prevent wanton destruction of social programs, keep church and state separate and free the judges; and anyway the Tories offer a target big and bloated enough for all of you, even that green lady.

The NDP will survive, as it has before, with a much better chance to grow once neo-conservatism has less air-time and fewer instruments and performers playing themes of hate and power. Do it for the country man.

Gainsay who dare!

Liberals! When Harper pushes you around, don’t push back. That’s what he wants. He feeds on your outrage over his accusations you prefer Taliban prisoners to Canadian soldiers. It’s the thrill of pulling it off, nudging the camera while you squawk, pointing from under the table—Look! I got them to play—and gloating over bets with himself that he’s won to engage you in his game again. Consider that if you just sat there and took it he would be disappointed and probably throw darts out of boredom.

When he pushes, pull. Don’t fret over the feint, grab his momentum and go for the opening: The way we treat the enemy's soldiers as prisoners determines how our soldiers should be treated as theirs. What can be more supportive of our troops than that? He’s surprised you’re concerned about prisoners, you’re astonished he would put our troops in such danger if they were taken captive unless we ensured our POWs were treated humanely. Every general in every future war might remember the country that renditioned its POWs to torture. Does he think about our troops’ futures? Or are they only an adjunct to his policy? A patriot, a citizen, a person doesn’t have to support the government’s policies to support the armed forces, particularly the plight of soldiers on a mission misdirected by greedy misanthropes.

On change

To David Crane:

So globalization is growing whether we like it or not? Just because something is changing doesn’t mean the change is justified even if it is cast as inevitable. We have the power to change direction or change back through our collective will.

You say globalization can bring riches to all as long as we work together to control its temper? its habit of encouraging gross inequalities in economies? That’s a commendable vision but it's impossible to realize as long as corporatism continues to buy or bully into service the policies, mechanisms and institutions of the global economy while preventing citizens from influencing its direction through voting by ballot and not relative to purchasing power.

Also, Happy New Year.

Dion

Good job Stephane!

My ambition

I don’t want to read poetry and have to call it nice. Anything can be nice, a word so pallid and flabby it's only useful for irony or hostility. I want, I wish, I strive for poetry to lift me from my chair and plunge me into the shock and marvel of the moment. I want to surface from reading, wet and naked and alive, quick to the pulse of time and the earth and air crackling around and revelling inside me. That is how I want poetry to be.

The reunion

We each cut out
an eye for an eye
for an eye till none
are left.

Bereft, we fumble
for whatever familiar’s
in reach, keep
jabbing it at the darkness
that is all we
know now.

So tell me
how much longer
will you and I
go on missing?

Shower

Then, in the shower,
licking his taut arms,
kneading his white, flexing back.

Notes on Pop Music

Royksopp are the New Order of the 21st century.

On politics

To Lorna Ducek and Charles McVety: When you write that you evangelicals just want to participate in democracy, i.e., shape policy, you are being clever: Isn't one of evangelicals' values that there can be no other beliefs but their own, no other interpretations they approve?

Participating in a democracy requires coming to consensus based on reason and guided by humility, influenced by our respective beliefs and shared experiences but never dominated by any of them. Does your god teach humility? Does he teach that even you can misunderstand? Accept that you can be wrong? Respect others' right to act differently from you?

What if the other perspective knew better? You'd have to talk it out. You might not be right about everything, or many things. Would your god compromise? Is he a democrat?

Oh—and, if your religous beliefs are strong enough, why do you have to convince others to share them?


To Peter MacKay: Yes we get it. Calling Belinda a dog was a joke de har har. Don't jokes depend on their honesty though? You do think women are dogs, well at least one woman.

It's a pity you'd be hotter if you shut up more.

Island

Toronto Island, August, late Friday afternoon, sitting alone in a broad, empty park, annoyed with myself. I had rushed to the docks to get to Hanlan's Point and the beach but just missed the ferry and, refusing to wait or go home, took the one to Centre Island, all riddled with people and kids and smells.

So, make do. I found a secluded picnic bench in the park close to the bicycle path and the lake and brought out my notebook. I can always walk to Hanlan's later, strip, lie back and watch the sun set, take the late ferry home. . . .Four, five shirtless guys, cutest one with the sunglasses and red shaved hair leading, the lankier one next to him, and the pair at the back with t-shirts slung on their heads, the darkest guy in brown shorts hanging off his hips, showing his tan line, the top of his ass.

A woman in a lime cutoff pushing a baby carriage along the path, her hair sprouting out the back of her ball cap. Then she turns her head and looks at me, watching her, making notes.

A young family wheeling by in a tandem bike for four shaped like a buggy, the fat father leaning half out the side with his foot braced on the fender, wearing a white shirt open at the neck, slacks and a yarmulke; his boy looking back from the front basket, wearing the same; his wife, in a cotton dress and with long black hair shaped like a teardrop, resting her head on his shoulder.

A quartet of heavy women walking, pointing at sights and cawing, one of them in a lime cashmere jacket and blue pants. Then a family hooting and shrieking hurtling along in their tandem, the mother's sari ballooning as she pumps the pedals.

Some people are walking towards to me — but now they see I’m writing they’re angling away, I hope. Although I still hear — no wait: they’re gone. I wish that didn’t bother me. Now two little girls gibbering softly by the evergreens. Now more people. Three young skinny loud annoying — wait he’s cute in the middle — and the girls are strapping too. But they’re only walking by, absorbed in each other. A seagull lands, surveys and pecks at the grass. Another arrives and disturbs the first. A third cries and circles in. Now a guy shaped like a cube van, squeezed into a black tank top and with hairless legs and wearing flip flops, slapping past just behind me.

I must focus. Beside me, a large garden with trees, beds and tall bushes lined by a low fence, two ambling strips of bony wood strung up on pegs. Inside, a small pagoda all in cedar shingles, with round windows in two sizes arrayed whimsically and a walkway of thick wood beams coiled around it like an arm. Next to it a starling twisting and fluttering in the sand. Then it stands, burnished, head tousled into a crest, wings fanned behind like a cape, and parades in circles, the grains trailing down.

On the path, whole family peering at me from their tandem, small father and slender mother poised in front. Two cute women in tank tops and with ponytails riding upright on city bikes. A balding man swiveling his head this way. The sound of a plane. Three teenagers in white unbuttoned dress shirts pulled out of their slacks whizzing by on skateboards, Mormons with the afternoon off.

A pizza truck. Another family on a bike, noticing me writing.

What if one of them came and sat next to me? Peered in my notebook? Spoke? Then they would all come, all stepping off their bikes, the carriages veering onto the grass, the men rustling out of the bushes, the sunbathers shaking off the beach. What would I do? If they all stood around me, some tilting heads, some smiling, waiting. What would I say?

That I stayed.

I have the power

Took a field trip from the office yesterday to attend The Power Within, billed as an “educational, motivational and leadership event.” Like Live8 for business and self-help gurus, it comprised a sequence of speakers to an audience of 5,000 in a darkened concrete hall the size of a hangar at the Metro Convention Centre.

The lineup included the descendant of a preacher striding across the stage, raising his hands and bellowing advice; Belinda Stronach, wearing a hellacious explosion of knitted zigzags in purple and burnt orange, stammering through a speech on cue cards about working for Daddy's company and joining politics because she wants to serve; Michael Eisner, armed with clips from Roger Rabbit and a sexy gravely voice, recounting the resurrection of Disney and arguing executives shouldn’t always be punished for their failures since they take risks; and Richard Branson — glassy-eyed, hung over, rambling, leaning to and fro in his seat and fiddling with his wedding band. He was interviewed by a fawning, thickly built radio personality. Richard’s advice? Work hard. Buy Virgin.

The day was pleasant. I rarely hear anything new at these hoo-has, only rephrased suggestions, platitudes about surviving in business and tales of sacrifice and triumph. But the speeches flared with occasional insights, such as Belinda's absorbing if clumsy recount of crossing the floor to join the Liberals; and the preacher's advice that success depends more on commiting to goals than holding back figuring out how to achieve them. I welcomed the encouragement. And so, back to my notebook.

Last night's date

Todd.
Thirty-five.
Bald.
Bearded.
Muscled.
Tallish.
Hairy.
Wrestler.
Teacher.
Artist.
NDPer.
Articulate.
T-shirt.
Jeans.
Wristbands.
Sneakers.
Dinner.
Thai.
Laughter.
Walking.
Loft.
Movies.
Cuddling.
Blowjob.
Spooning.



Doesn't do anal.


"Not at all. Either side."
I BEG YOUR PARDON?
"I just don't feel anything."
I BEG YOUR PARDON?
"Most of the wrestling guys I know don't do anal."


12:30.
Streetcar.
Home.

Notes on Commandant Harper II

_____
Corruption at the founding convention of the Conservative party eh? I love the stench so early in summer.

_____
And what’s with shaking his kids’ hands as they leave for school?

_____
Liberals! Staring at your shoes because they tripped you up with the extension in Afganistan? Because their accountability law might make it too costly for enough delegates to come to your convention? Snap out of it! They're just trying to rattle you because they know you're still dangerous. Try lobbing some grenades yourself. Be it resolved this House affirms a woman’s right to chose. See the Tories stammer their way out of that one.

But my constituents might not like that. In the short run perhaps but in fact you’ll be upholding deeper values of theirs than affect that one issue. And this is war and you must realize that. You know what Harper wants. Look at his moves so far: the law saving poor horny fifteen-year-olds from the rapists, an ascetic accountability act, a cynical GST cut, a bunkered administration, siege language, the braying over the Supreme Court and Senate, the canceling of day care, the disdain for the media, the tarring of all things that don’t conform as liberal and so corrupt and decadent, and now the second gay marriage vote. Populism for some and a laying of early foundations signaling the supplicants he’s readying to thrust into the heart of liberalism, which yet feeds him, to leave this country rawer and more tribal. Canadians will be more self-sufficient in enclaves perhaps but less free and less aware and more pliable for ministers and marketers as we squabble over the moralities of our own private lots. You need to proudly defend values people forget they share starting with respecting our differences and protecting one another from needless suffering. This is a centre-left country that doesn’t want to admit it. Cheer us on.

_____
What is the corporatist neo-conservative ethic except greedy and undemocratic? Doesn't it publicly prize conformity over everything else? Doesn't it theorize if democracy actually worked we would descend into nihilism? This hasn’t happened so far so what does it want now? It’s power but to what end? And where in its perfections does it help those who are left behind?

Fundamental Sessions

I've caught myself enthusing about Pet Shop Boys' new album, Fundamental, hoping it to be true, to turn out true, but it isn't. It's crafted with their usual finesse but the range isn't there. It's too sombre, as if it’s missing an optimism gene, and its politics are clunky and tend to the obvious. (Did I buy Billy Bragg? Did someone put Chumbawumba on?) Bush is bad. Terrorism bad. Boo. Immigrants good. If they had written Fundamental in 2000 I might have called it prescient; instead it’s more a sign of the general mass inching its head around to finally see the problem than a flare of thrilling lyrical subversion. You could argue the album needs to be serious to carry its message, but you would be wanking.

Predominantly negative emotion isn’t a weakness in art as long as it’s placed at the right vantage point, as in the stories of Norman Levine, which aren’t cheerful but still leave the reader consoled or elated. And although PSB does attempt this at the end of I Made My Excuses And Left, they otherwise put on their sad act, pack up and leave us with the dirty plates. The lack of catharsis may intend to disquiet the listener and move him to take up arms against the oppressor and if so that's heroic in our tightening world but it still leaves us with an imperfect work.

All is not lost though. Looking over the whole Fundamental collection including b-sides and bonuses, I still see a great album. I offer you therefore my revised play list, the Fundamental Sessions.

THE SESSIONS

Psychological — Dainty Bastard compares this one with One More Chance in part for its agility and I see his point, but I put it with For Your Own Good for its sultry menace, with a side of sex from Some Speculation and guile from The Sound Of The Atom Splitting. “What’s that spilled on the kitchen floor?” Lovely.

In Private — A rosy beauty from Fundamentalism, their least-mediocre disco record, and what Soddom and Gomorrah purports to be. Neil plays diva while Elton swaggers across the stage.

The Resurrectionist — The best of the sessions. Proud, ballsy, joyful, it charges in, grabs you by the neck and carries you off, and you want more.

Indefinite Leave To Remain — The melody is hopeful and anxious, the bridge is beautiful, the lyrics aren't too obvious and "indefinite leave to remain" is a line of found poetry.

Girls Don’t Cry — Lush and wistful. A sentimental side-trip.

I Made My Excuses And Left — That hollow, muted lament in the background, then Neil's clinical voice of shock, devastation and relief. It made me cry too.

Minimal — All day long, at my desk, in the elevator, on conference calls, I am singing M! I! N! I! M! A! L! I cannot stop. I love it. Melancholy done right. Then the song turns towards home and — hang on — I know that guitar. What is New Order doing in here? Another sign Chris is hot for Peter Hook.

I'm With Stupid — I hated this one at first, sounded tinny and gadgety, and therein lies its cunning for it made me listen and as I grouched that melody smoldered in and I was hooked. The media tittered about PSB coming down to make their statement about Blair but I doubt he clutched his heart over it. Still hate the chorus.

Luna Park — Took me awhile to like this one too, and I love songs that take some reaching on my part. It is exquisite. Placid, langorous, nostalgic, reminds me of Enya minus the fangs.

Twentieth Century — The finest of the sessions next to The Resurrectionist. Deft and light on its feet. The lyrics make their point without overstaying their welcome. At last an optimistic song.

Fugitive — A romp. Crackles like their early, gamier b-sides.

Flamboyant (Memphisto Extended Mix) — This one came out with Pop Art a couple of years ago but its style locates it with these sessions. And not the fey yet delightful version from Fundamentalism but the Memphisto mix, which lets the song spread out and move at will. It is a masterpiece, regal, sweeping, presiding over everything in sight.

THE REJECTS

Numb — Me too.

The Soddom and Gomorrah Show — What dreck is this? An absent-minded paint-by-numbers big-budget showpiece. I knew where it was going the whole time. Maybe it’ll become catchier, I tell myself. It doesn’t. Maybe I’m not in the right frame of mind. Maybe it sucks. The remixes on Fundamentalism are better but still what does that say?

Casanova in Hell — Fer Chrissakes. Fine like an expensive watch but I'm asleep before I get the joke.

God Willing — Warmed-over Electronic. If you want to hear it in the original, download Soviet. Another sign Chris is hot for Johnny Marr.

Integral — Pump up the picket lines! A rousing production, makes me want to dress in placards and march; although I heard it in a club the other night and it was impossible to dance to, and those are lyrics to wince at on tributes.

My speech to the kids

(From an interview with high school students about being gay)

1. Were you ever teased or put down because of your sexuality?

Oh yes. Many times. I was called a fag in school. I even felt ashamed over not having a girlfriend when all I really wanted was to go out with one of the jocks. (Not to worry though. I have since met a lot of hot gay jocks.) Someone once scratched "FAG" into the hood of my family's car. I once noticed "FAG" written on my knapsack in heavy ball-point pen and wondered who had done it and when they'd gotten a hold of my bag, and how many had seen. But words are only words and I knew I didn't need to feel ashamed. I am proud to be gay.

2. How do you feel about the Catholic Church's view on homosexuality?

That depends on what part of the Catholic Church you're asking about. Not being Catholic or even Christian it is hard for me to tell. Once the one hand, there are Catholics, such as my mother, who express the positive values of the church by being loving and accepting. And there are others who use the church to rationalize their prejudice and aggression but if the Catholic Church didn't exist they would find another vehicle for it.

As for the institution, their stance against homosexuality is disrespectful, inhumane and anachronistic in a supposedly rational, enlightened world. Mind you, their record on birth control, women, non-Catholics, and so forth isn’t so hot either so homos are in good company.

3. What is your response to people who are homophobic or are opposed to your lifestyle?

One of the deepest values of any society is to respect one another but that principle is too easily evaded when others do what is uncomfortable or strange for us, so we think of them as outsiders when they’re only people. Homophobes are afraid of that strange idea of two men having sex or two women, often brought up thinking it’s bad or wrong and never questioning it. It’s a sign they need to look at their fears — many are afraid of sex itself — rather than project them on others.

I don't support the lifestyles of narrow-minded judgmental bigots but I don't go trying to beat them up or take away their human rights. If I did I would be called a monster and rightly so. Live and let live.

Now let's look at the usual topics of conversation:

MARRIAGE IS FOR STRAIGHT PEOPLE — Marriage has historical roots as an economic or political arrangement. Nothing about sex or love in there but convenient for the children, yes. Since then it's changed to represent the natural pairing of people for love — institutions change all the time — and if gays and lesbians also couple out of love then marriage must encompass that too. If you say marriage is for children, does that mean straight couples without children can't get married? And if gay or lesbian couples have children, as many do, they should by that logic get married anyway.

IT'S NOT NATURAL — If it happens in nature how can it not be natural? In spite of all the oppression, ridicule, violence, rejection, stigmatization, roadblocks, it still exists.

THE PARTS AREN'T BUILT FOR THAT — For having babies, I agree. For expressing love or lust, I don't — and neither does anyone tacitly as long as they have sex for something other than baby-making. Anyone who tells you otherwise is fooling himself. The world doesn't lack for babies, so the fact some people aren't having them hasn't dented our population growth.

IT DOESN'T BOTHER ME AS LONG AS I DON'T HAVE TO SEE IT — Which means it does bother you. Face it. Why should it make you uncomfortable? What you're really saying is homosexuality doesn't bother you as an abstract idea but in fact you don't want to think about it. That's neither tolerance nor acknowledgement. How would you like it if everyone could display affection publicly but not you?

BUT IT'S GROSS — No, ugly people having sex is gross. Having sex with someone you fancy is fun! And if you don't like it, who invited you anyway?

4. What can people do to stop hate crimes against homosexuals?

Report them! Condemn them! They're so hard to prove that victims need all the help they can get. It's too easy for attackers to hide behind convenient explanations and avoid taking responsibility. You have to prove intent. JUDGE: You hit him with a pipe because he was gay. DEFENDANT: No sir, I just didn't like his face.

And learn some self-defence. Anyone in danger of a hate crime — and that includes everyone really — should know something about protecting themselves, and this can cut down significantly the number of attacks.

5. Do you believe that there is a moral issue behind homosexuality? If so, what is it?

I don't understand your question. There are morals everywhere. You could say it's right to raise children to be happy and healthy and therefore it's right to raise gay and lesbian kids to be happy and healthy, and I'd agree with that. But you're probably asking if homosexuality is amoral and it's not.

Morals are not universal. They have to make sense. It is wrong to kill, for example, although many believe it’s justified if your own life is threatened. In the case of two people of the same sex loving one another, it’s illogical to say that’s morally wrong when it doesn’t hurt other people, doesn’t ruin the economy or the environment, and actually strengthens society by increasing the number of happy stable couples. It’s morally right.

6. Do you think that you are treated equally in society? If not, what is your opinion of those who discriminate against homosexuals?

Which society? Canada? North America? It depends. I'm treated equally by the people I know: my co-workers and employer treat me well, friends and family treat me fairly, and I don't feel I'm in danger of someone hitting me with a pipe and calling me a fag. But in general, by society? Not completely. I can't go to a lot of small towns across the country and be openly gay. I can't even hold hands with a guy in certain parts of the city or else I'll be attacked. The federal government is planning to hold another vote to try revoking my right to marriage. Are the rights to marriage of anyone else being attacked or questioned? No.

7. What do you think could be done against the intolerance of homosexuality?

You can change attitudes only one person at a time, through explaining and teaching, showing that we all want the same things: food, shelter, to be loved, to be healthy. It’s only through understanding we are all more alike than not that people see their assumptions and beliefs about our diffences mean little.

What to do? On a personal level, encourage others to be open-minded and welcoming. Point out when your friends and family aren’t being fair and respectful to gays and lesbians. On a societal level, think about whom you vote for — vote period! The policies of some politicians may be good for the economy or certain lobby groups, but if they also promote intolerance, don’t vote for them.

8. If you could stand up in front of a group of people and some something on homosexual rights to leave an impact on them that would make them think differently what would you say?

To all those people who are gay or lesbian or aren't sure what they feel and are hiding and worried what will happen if anyone knows: it does get better. Much better. I know how much it hurts now, but don't let it grind you down. If your friends castigate you, you deserve better friends. If your parents might kick you out wait till you're on your own and then tell them. Consider telling siblings first to build moral support — they’re usually more understanding. No matter what — it’s okay. Have faith in yourself. Claim the happiness that is rightfully yours.

And to those who have ostracized, intimidated, beat up, laughed at or written FAG on the knapsacks of others: stop. Stop being small-minded. Treat others well. Afraid your friends will think you’re gay too? Don’t let yourself be intimidated. You’re not lemmings, you’re intelligent people. I bet there’s something about you others might make fun of, so think about how that might feel. Kindness and fairness are signs of strength. Live and let live.

Notes on Commandant Harper

___
The intellect of a graduate student with the motivations of an eleven year-old who wasn't invited to the last birthday party.

___
A one-man Revenge of the Nerd.

___
Remember those sad, bitter eyes looking out from the back seat of the long black limousine that was taking Harper away at the end of the 2004 election? Just after Martin slid into government? That was the day he had to decide between giving up or taking vengeance. Showing us all. Well, it’s his show—and its failures, therefore, will be wholly his and his opponents will take advantage of that.

Once some deeply indefensible offense happens, he will not escape behind his minister flubbing mantras for the press gallery while he jumps into the helicopter out back. Or invisibly grasp his minister’s head, turning and tilting and nodding it as needed to catch blame. The hysterical control he has stretched over everything will lead back to him and reveal the folly of trying to preside consciously over all at once and steer it, trying to catch all random bits flying in his way, manic.

Fundamental

Pet Shop Boys are the Margaret Atwood of the pop world.

A friend told me he’d been out walking his dog past my building the other day and had noticed a ladder set up to my second-floor balcony.

“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”

A ladder to my apartment. Who could it be? A thief? My superhero lover Fernando of Texas? riding his horse up the ladder to lay roses at my feet and fuck me silly? Maybe the super...

Then it occurred to me that apart from the ability to spy on the street and from the balcony lure men into my lair, some books, an astounding wardrobe, cutlery, and me, my apartment has nothing of value anyone could steal.

Here is enough time.
There isn't a lot
but enough;
for everything is immediate to you
crowded all round you
attending.
The only matter is priority.

Favourite Titles

Everything That Rises Must Converge
Dance of the Happy Shades
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
The Darkling Thrush
Tamburlaine Must Die
The Japanese Art of War
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
The Treason of Isengard
Explodes, for instance
The Unquiet Grave
The Blackwater Lightship
A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings
The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and Her Heartless Grandmother
Glass, Irony and God
Time Will Darken It
They Came Like Swallows
I’m Dreaming of Rocket Richard
Evening Dance of the Grey Flies
The Advantages of Menopause
Fatherhood, Manhood, Circumcision, &c.
The Impious Impatience of Job
Death of a Naturalist
From the Frontier of Writing
The Life and Times of a Teaboy
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night
The Kitchen God’s Wife
Enourmous Changes at the Last Minute
Forests of the Medieval World
Adolpho’s Disappeared and We Haven’t a Clue Where to Find Him
The Princess, the Boeing and the Hot Pastrami Sandwich
Cape Breton Is the Thought Control Centre of Canada
The Ant-Lion
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Brazillian Journal
Across the Bridge
The Jilting of Granny Weatherall
The Child Who Favoured Daughter
Shoes: an International Episode
Just Give Me A Cool Drink of Water ’fore I Diiie
Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well
Scenes from the Life of a Double Monster
The Magician in Love
Love Medicine
If On A Winter’s Night A Traveller
Suit of Light
Intertidal Life
The Book of Imaginary Beings
The Book of Pins
Mrs. Turner Cutting the Grass
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters
The Weight of Oranges
The Metal and the Flower
Apart, I Send You News of Lions

To the Liberal Party of Canada:

What is the most important priority? To not let Harper win a majority. Forget your internal battles for a second and think of the country: five or six years of Harper could devastate Canada. You know this. In case your next leader isn’t exactly what you want, make sure he is guaranteed at least to keep the Tories to a minority—and buy the time you need to improve.

You will need people to feel a strong sense of shared injustice and a headstrong sense of hope. Don't wait: prepare as much as possible before the convention.