Girouard Avenue (1))

In a few days my new book of poems, Girouard Avenue, will be published. I believe that this is my best work as a poet, my first book of new poems in eleven years. My last book, Mapping the Soul, New and Selected Poems, was published by the Muses' Company in Winnipeg in 1998. For the next while I will publish information on the book, as well as a special feature, new photographs of 2226 Girouard Avenue, after which the book was titled.

Some of the poems in the book are already online; for instance, "Hoolahan's Flat, Oxford Avenue," can be found in its entirety as an online chapbook at http://www.coraclepress.com/

The book's epilogue, "The Colours of the Irish Flag," can be found at the site of the Montreal Gazette. It is a video of me reading the poem, so this might be of interest to some readers.

A Poet's Journey

When you see your life as a journey, right away you've mythologized it, placed it in an experiential framework, a narrative with a beginning, middle, end--you've thought the way poets think.

Visit to La Ronde, Montreal

It was a dark and rainy day when we visited La Ronde.

The Guaranteed Milk Bottle in Montreal

This giant milk bottle has been on the Montreal cityscape for many years. It was put up by the old Guaranteed Milk Company, which may have had its factory or delivery department on present-day Lucien L'Allier just below present-day Rene-Levesque. The street names have been changed to reflect our changing times . . .  so Dorchester Blvd. is now Blvd. de Rene-Levesque, and so on... My great uncle Victor Parker used to work at a dairy on Lucien L'Allier, I am not too sure what he did, but he lived with his mother until she died around 1949 and then he was relocated to the Douglas Hospital by his three brothers. He died in 1969.

The hotel that can be seen on the right in the photograph below is now gone, and new bigger buildings have been erected on this location. The milk bottle is always about to be demolished until someone hears about it and calls for it to receive some kind of special status as part of Montreal's history. The milk bottle is now rusting out and is covered by graffiti . . .

Bonsai at the Montreal Botanical Gardens

Rocks at the Montreal Botanical Gardens

Doors at St. John the Divine Cathedral, NYC

Stairs in Old Montreal

More family history photographs

My maternal grandfather, John Richards Parker, came to Montreal with his wife around 1912. Here is a photograph of him, at the Central Fire Station in Old Montreal, where he worked. He is first on the far right.


Here is my maternal grandmother, Bertha Chew Parker, taken when she still lived in Blackburn, Lancashire, England.



Here is my grandfather's mother.


Here is my grandfather at the fire station on Somerled near Cavendish, in the Notre Dame de Grace neighbourhood of Montreal. He is second from the left. Photograph dated July 1940.

At the horse races in Vancouver

Stag

This image of a stag, a totem animal, is located at Mount Royal Cemetery.

On Mount Royal, Montreal

Yes, we now know what it means to run around like "a chicken with its head cut off" with this collection of signs directing us to go here, no, go there. These signs were located at the bottom of a slight hill that is used for skiing in the winter, there's even a ski lift visible in the bottom photograph. Just in front of the signs is Beaver Lake, a man-made pond on Mount Royal. This place is crowded in summer!

Restaurant Emile Bertrand

My photo of Restaurant Bertrand

I visited Restaurant Emile Bertrand once with my father when I was a child (around 1955). It wasn't until around 1994 that I returned there, more by chance than anything else. That first visit, over fifty years ago, he and I may have come down from Windsor Station, where he worked. Why else would we have been in the neighbourhood? But why would I have been at Windsor Station? I remember that visit, the stainless steel counter tops, and that Emile Bertrand's specialty was spruce beer (a soda pop, or "soft drink" as we say in Canada) that has limited appeal and has a sprucey sweet taste, like the smell of spruce tree resin. It's an acquired taste but when I start drinking the stuff I can't get enough! They used to make this drink on the premises, as well as serving the obligatory French fries and hot dogs "fully dressed" (meaning garnished with chopped cabbage and onion)... I like a toasted bun and grilled or steamed hot dog. Premier Bourassa got himself into trouble years ago by referring to certain lower class people as "eaters of hot dogs", but I have a craving for hot dogs every now or then. I rediscovered Restaurant Emile Bertrand fifteen years ago and enjoyed going there again a few times, for sentimental reasons, and I wrote a poem referring to that day I went there with my father. The restaurant was eventually closed, due to a family dispute it seems, about two years ago, and although it was announced they would reopen, they never did (as far as I know). The new ,almost upscale, restaurant now located on the premises is for a new demographic, a younger educated clientele, who want whole grain bread, etc., not fully dressed hot dogs and French fries. Restaurant Emile Bertrand was located on rue Notre Dame West just down from Guy Street, or Peel Street.

Montreal Skyline

Taken one fall day at the Chateau look-out on Mount Royal.

Photographs

Where The Bonsai Are

Bonsai at the Montreal Botanical Gardens.

Where The Carp Swim

Carp at the Japanese exhibit, the Montreal Botanical Gardens.

Montreal Botanical Gardens, Native Circle

Montreal Botanical Gardens, Chinese Exhibit

Dear Sonja

Sonja Skarstedt

Sonja Skarstedt

1986

Sonja Skarstedt, after a long battle with cancer, died on Friday, July 31, 2009. Sonja was a dear friend to many of us, with a terrific sense of humour and a great spirit to live and create. Geof Isherwood, her husband and life partner--they were always together--informs me there will be a memorial gathering on Sonja's birthday, next October 2. We have lost someone who contributed so much to poetry in Montreal, with her magazine Zymergy, published between 1987-1990, and later with Empyreal Press, she was a tireless and generous worker for many of us whom she published and many more that she supported in other ways. She was also a great support and friend of Louis Dudek in his final years and published his last books for him. What a loss we have all suffered, especially Geof and his family. Sonja was only 48 years old and had such a youthful spirit. I remember Geof and Sonja driving out to Huntingdon to visit back in 1989 or 1990, a time when I especially appreciated their visit, and the years during the 1990s when we worked on books she published for us. Two years ago I published her chapbook, Abundances, online with Coracle Press. She was a terrifically creative person, a poet, a visual artist, a playwright, and most recently she had branched out to making films. You can find out more about Sonja at www.skarwood.com.