Lane behind 2226 Girouard Avenue, 22 October 2009

This is the lane behind my grandmother's home at 2226 Girouard Avenue. Below are photographs of her back porch where someone took photos of my mother and I in the early 1950s and other photos of my Uncle Alex and his son, Herb, taken in the late 1930s. The place wasn't maintained after my grandmother's passing in 1965, and here we are, 44 years later, (photographs taken on this day in 2009), and the building has completely gone to ruin.

In 2015 I published an essay, Remembering Girouard Avenue, about my family living here. It can be found at https://archive.org/details/RememberingGirouardAvenueStephenMorrissey

 

Photographs taken after reading at Cafe Sarajevo on 12 October 2011

I was part of a group poetry reading at Cafe Sarajevo, located at 6548 Blvd. St-Laurent, on 12 Oct 2011; after the reading I took these photographs of store windows across the street from the reading venue. 

 

West Haven Community Garden

The West Haven Community Garden is located behind Reno Plus, a big box hardware located on rue St-Jacques near Av. Patricia. 

Photographs taken 05 September 2025

"I Pity the Poor Immigrant" by Bob Dylan

 

Allan Line, immigrants arriving in Montreal, around 1910

I pity the poor immigrant
Who wishes he would've stayed home
Who uses all his power to do evil
But in the end is always left so alone
That man whom with his fingers cheats
And who lies with every breath
Who passionately hates his life
And likewise, fears his death

I pity the poor immigrant
Whose strength is spent in vain
Whose heaven is like ironsides
Whose tears are like rain
Who eats but is not satisfied
Who hears but does not see
Who falls in love with wealth itself
And turns his back on me

I pity the poor immigrant
Who tramples through the mud
Who fills his mouth with laughing
And who builds his town with blood
Whose visions in the final end
Must shatter like the glass
I pity the poor immigrant
When his gladness comes to pass

Kensington Presbyterian Church, 21 April 2025

I visited Kensington Presbyterian Church because the polling station for the 28 April 2025 Federal election was located there; I thought this church had closed long ago but I see, in their website, that although the congregation is smaller now it is still very active; "We are a Christian community worshipping in the heart of NDG — since 1896! The community of NDG has changed a great deal since then, and so have we." The church, the place of worship, is now Knox Centre for performing arts. The church is located at 6225 Godfrey Avenue, in NDG

 

Montreal skyline, on 04 April 2012

 

Driving home on the 13 March 2015