Meeting David McFadden at the Morrissey Tavern in 1993

When we would visit Toronto in the early 1990s we would visit with David McFadden. David is one of my favourite Canadian authors, a poet, novelist, and traveller.  From right: SM, CZ, DMc.

Tea with George and Jeanne Johnston, 16 February 1992

George Johnston in 1992

Photos taken in the living room of their Henderson Street home, Huntingdon, Quebec

Jeanne Johnston, Carolyn Zonailo, George Johnston

We always enjoyed tea with George and Jeanne Johnston, good friends from our years living in Huntingdon, Quebec. George and Jeanne were lovely people, generous, loving, welcoming... I have been blessed by knowing them.

Marya Fiamengo at The Cedars, spring 1993

Here's CZ and Marya on the Morrison Bridge.

CZ and Marya at the Elgin Cemetery.

Marya and CZ at the Cedars.

Marya on the Morrison Bridge.

SM, CZ, and Marya at The Cedars.

Wendell Berry on William Carlos Williams

Wendell Berrry's The Poetry of William Carlos Williams of Rutherford (Counterpoint Press, Berkeley, 2011) is both Berry's homage to WCW and a discussion of poetry using Williams' work as the place of reference. This is an honest, serious, and articulate discussion of the work and meaning of one of the three or four major American poets of the last century.

Here is a quotation from Wendell Berry's book:

Without such rootedness in locality, considerately adapted to local conditions, we get what we now have got: a country half destroyed, toxic, eroded, and in every way abused; a deluded people tricked out in gauds without traditions of any kind to give them character; a politics of expediency dictated by the wealthy; a disintegrating economy founded upon fantasy, fraud, and ecological ruin. Williams saw all of this, grieved over it, and accused rightly... (p. 176)

Emily Carr on art and religion

"Emily Carr et ses amis" by Joe Fafard on Sherbrooke St. West
near St. Mathieu, 20 April 2013  

July 16th, 1933

Once I heard it stated and now I believe it to be true that there is no true art without religion. The artist himself may not think he is religious but if he is sincere his sincerity in itself is religion. If something other than the material did not speak to him, and if he did not have faith in that something and also in himself, he would not try to express it. Every artist I meet these days seems to me to leak out something, some in one way, some in another, tip-toeing, stretching up, longing for something beyond what he sees or can reach.

Emily Carr, Hundreds and Thousands, the Journals of Emily Carr, Clarke, Irwin & Company Limited, Toronto/Vancouver, 1966. P. 41.

Store windows during the Lovers and Others reading on Blvd St. Laurent October 2011 (2)

Store windows during the Lovers and Others reading on Blvd St. Laurent October 2011

Slipped out during a break in the reading and took these photographs of store windows along St. Lawrence Main. Just on the edge of Little Italy up near Jean Talon. Montreal, a city still in the 1970s when it isn't in the 1940s or 50s. That's what I love about it...

Visiting Marya Fiamengo at her office, UBC, Vancouver, 19 November 1992

Marya Fiamengo and Stephen Morrissey.

Poet Marya Fiamengo in her office at the Department of English, UBC,Vancouver.

Marya, Stephen Morrissey, and CZ. After reading in one of Marya's classes.

Marya and CZ.

Visiting Barry Dempster in Toronto, 14 March 1992

Barry Dempster

CZ and Barry.

Karen Dempster, Barry Dempster, CZ, Stephen Morrissey

Stephen and Barry.

F.R. Scott Memorial at St. James the Apostle Church in Montreal

On October 12, 2011, F.R. Scott's contribution to Montreal and Canadian poetry was honoured by the unveiling of a memorial plaque dedicated to him at St. James the Apostle Church in Montreal.

At Ben's Restaurant, Montreal, January 1992

We used to go to Ben's with Louis Dudek, after a poetry reading, and often the visiting poet would join us. Louis was always interesting, a gracious host, and,m as one of Canada's leading poets, informative and knowledgeable about poetry.

Here's CZ and I, at Ben's Restaurant in Montreal. January 1992. Ben's is gone, now a hotel is on this valuable piece of real estate...

Guido Nincheri, Montreal artist

In late November, early December 2011, there was an exhibition of the non-sacred art by Florence-born artist Guido Nincheri at Victoria Hall, Westmount, Quebec. My interest in Nincheri is due to his art found at St. Michael's Church in Mile End, Montreal, art commisioned by my great great uncle, Father Luke Callaghan. Callaghan is largely responsible for overseeing the construction of St. Michael's and having Nincheri decorate the interior of the church. You can find more on Nincheri and on St. Michael's Church by going to the index on this page.

Artie Gold in 1993

All previously unpublished photographs of Artie Gold from 1993. A group of us went out for supper, including CZ, Ken Norris, Artie Gold, and myself, to a Chinese restaurant on St. Laurent. Ken's book, Vehicule Days: an unorthodox history of Montreal's Vehicule Poets (1993)  had just been published. A fun time was had by all...

Dwight Druick on Artie Gold

Artie Gold in 2004 at the restaurant across the street from where he lived on Sherbrooke Street
West, near Patricia Avenue; this restaurant closed and there is a Second Cup there now

Here's a letter I received from Dwight Druick on November 6, 2011, regarding my essay "Remembering Artie Gold"; the complete essay can be read at
http://www.coraclepress.com/chapbooks/morrissey/remembering-artie-gold.html
------------------

Dear Stephen,


It has been 16 years since I moved from Montreal to make a home in Kingston, Ontario. I had come here to work at Hotel Dieu Hospital in adult psychiatry after having transformed from a musician-songwrtiter (a calling which has gratefully returned without the onus of having to make a living from it) to a psychiatric social worker. During a long period of transition from the stage to McGill - a seemingly endless 7 years - I was a bartender - first at the Rainbow and, then, at Charlie's.

I met Artie in the late 70's at the Rainbow. He would wait for the end of my shift and we would go to Ben's for a 4 AM breakfast of eggs, rye toast, and fried salami. I will never forget watching Artie eat - lingering over each bite with the delight of a child.

Artie and I spent many nights together. We would talk and eat - and we shared some drugs. He would invite me to his tiny apartment on MacKay to see his stash of treasures, the latest of which he would find in the alley ways in the Guy Street area where he lived. I dubbed him 'the urban beachcomber'.

I still have many treasures that Artie gave or sold to me. Scrooge McDuck comics wrapped in plastic and an array of lost and found objects that we both valued. We shared a kind of childlike wonder, marvelling at the great stuff other people would throw away.

This afternoon, I decided to change the place where I have hung one of Artie's drawings that he gave to me. I wanted it to get more light and attention. I turned to Nancy, my wife of 22 years - and a friend of Artie's as well - and said that I was going 'Google' him. That's how I found your tribute to him and learned the very sad news of his passing.

I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your words and photos. Artie was a truly gentle and brilliant soul. It was a privilege to have been his friend.

I have often thought of him as the years have gone by - and wondered how he was doing. I missed his company. His humour. His smile.

So in memory of a great friend, I will share my favorite Artie story that I tell at least 5 times a year:

I see Artie for the first time in a few days and say 'hi'.

He says "How come you don't ask how I'm doing"?

Chastened, I ask, 'So how are ya doin'?

Artie pauses, shrugs,

"Don't ask".

Thanks Stephen.

Dwight Druick

Redpath Museum (5)