Poetry Challenge April 5th I am NOT sick! Why do you tell me I should see a doctor That I should Take medication Get counselling? You say I don’t eat Properly Well, let me tell you Some foods Are contaminated They don’t taste Anything Like they used to They may even be Poisonous The people…

And now, for our (optional) prompt. In his poem “The Wasteland,” T.S. Eliot famously declared that “April is the cruelest month.” But is it?… April is the cruelest month I’ve been dreading the 30 days of it that are marked upon the calendar. Easter Sunday 2015, celebrated as the day Jesus rose from the grave,…

Remembrance Day was on November 11th: We commemorated Canada’s soldiers who fought in past wars, where many died or were severely injured. We have also begun recognizing the efforts of everyday heroes, categorized as First Responders (fire, police and ambulance workers) I once wrote a poem about Rick Hansen, celebrated as a hero back in…

April 2. Prompts are: “Seeing an old friend.” [Virginia’s prompt] [Napowrimo’s prompt] “I challenge you to write a poem that takes the form of a family portrait. You could write, for example, a stanza for each member of your family…” Yes, Old Friend, I’ve lived a good life Two good husbands without too much strife…

My updated “rap” song for the Village of Fraser Lake. I wrote the original version more than 30 years ago. I’d hoped to find someone to put the lyrics to music but that didn’t happen. I finally had the nerve to perform it at Mouse Mountain Days in 2014. IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOUNTAIN…

  THE SECRET In the picture I am smiling, My hair freshly permed. A big white bow bobby-pinned To a huge mass of curls. A  beauty parlor perm that Momma couldn’t get her comb Through for a whole year. I am smiling in front Of the playhouse That my dadda made for me, Behind the apple tree. That’s my swing dangling down…

THE QUEBEC ELECTION – 1976 In a land beyond the mountains, ‘Cross a thousand miles of plain, Past the province of Ontario, Where Pierre and Margaret reign, There’s a land where French is spoken, By the people large and small, And the reason for that language- The can’t speak in ours at all. In this…

The other day a bunch of us “old-timers” were reminiscing about the many uses of the long-extinct Eaton’s catalogue. Today is mail-day. Wow I’m happy! We go to town with mom and pappy. We’ll drag our feet behind the sled While mom and pop sit up ahead. The horses move at such a pace They’d never win…

WE LOVED YOU WELL (Pierre Elliot Trudeau) We loved you well when you stepped down, And you were misty-eyed, Canadians from coast to coast Were really unified. His farewell speech he made before The Tories were brought down Then he came back to lead the pack To make Joe Clark the clown. The budget to…

WE NEED RESOURCES! A. Why I do not want to be taken care of: It’s true that there is a need for a mental health network.  We need to support and to take care of those who need this care.  Even so there is an over-dependance on the system.  Those who are supported by this…