The "lotus eaters" poems

On Thursday, April 26, 2007, I was walking alone in Rideau Centre, an upscale indoor shopping mall in downtown Ottawa, wondering what my next poem should be, hoping that I would see something that would move me to write. Knowing I would have this opportunity, I had tried but been unable to find my notepad before we left home; so I was wondering if I would need a notepad. There were a great many people in the mall, as usual. It struck me that most of these people we talking on cell phones or listening to MP3 players or keypadding on Blackberries or similar instruments: very few were just taking in what was going on in he mall.

That was the genesis of the "lotus eaters" poems, of which I have written and posted three at this date. I shall not explain the poems here, just indicate the impetus. I chose the title from Tennyson's poem, "The Lotos-Eaters" of course. I am going to write several of these poems, because I think this is an important subject. I am still wondering whether I should use Tennyson's spelling. Let's see what happens.

Mouawad's "Scorched" -- about my review of the play

I have been amazed by the number of hits on my review of NAC's production of Scorched, Linda Gaboriau's brilliant translation of Quebec playwright Wadji Mouawad's stunning play Incendies. Granted, it is my first positive review in a while; but let's face it: this has been a bleak theatrical season, generally, with NAC's new Artistic Director Peter Hinton and GCTC's new AD, Lise Ann Johnson both retreating to seasons mainly consisting of short plays. Just a few minutes ago, I checked with statcounter.com, one of my hits analysis services, and discovered that every hit today started with a direct Google for or email link to Scorched. The review is so popular, that when one Googles "Scorched Mouawad" or any variation of the title and his name today, my review is at the top of Google's list. That is astounding to me.
What is also very interesting is that in the past, long before I the advent of the Internet, when I saw a play about which I had an opinion, my recourse was to talk to friends about it. Eventually, I became tired of having such a limited audience, and started reviewing plays in an email newsletter for Vagabond Theatre, our local community theatre club. When I started wordcurrents, it occurred to me that this was a place for my theatre reviews. I soon realized that the cast and crew were Googling my reviews.
Now think about that for a moment. It means that I have a pipeline directly to the people on stage or backstage, including the playwright, the director, artistic director -- that's a great aspect of the Internet: it gives us direct links to people responsible.
So if somebody does something that I react to, I am not limited to showing my response by my hand clapping at the curtain call: I can say it in a review, fairly certain that it will go directly to the people involved and others who saw it with me or will decide whether or not to see it based partly on my review.
Let's hear it for technology!

Charles Wilkins

Last night, I attended a read by Charlie Wilkins, a writer of note who has the distinction (for me) of having once been my student. Charlie's writing includes considerable very insightful freelance journalism and several books about his travels and very astute observations.

A few years ago, he achieved some fame by walking from Thunder Bay to New York City. The walk was chronicled on CBC Radio. The resultant book was Walk to New York (Viking Canada, 2004), a rich and insightful commentary upon this unique adventure.

Charlie is a widely published free lance journalist whose harrowing look at the final years of Maurice "The Rocket" Richard should be required reading for any sports thinker or fan.

I shall not list all of his published major works here, but do draw your attention the the most recent: Circus at the Edge of the Earth (McLelland & Stewart, 1998) chronicles Charlie's extensive travels with the Great Wallenda Circus touring the hinterlands of north-western Ontario and Manitoba, and A Wilderness Called Home (Viking, 2001) is his account of traveling across Canada, partly from Thunder Bay to the Gulf of St. Lawrence in a working freighter.

Last evening, Charlie read from two works. The second was CC200- A Memoir of Voices, which he edited on commission from the Cornwall Collegiate & Vocational School's 200th Reunion Committee; the first work he read from was an unpublished memoir based on his job working in a cemetery in Toronto. This memoir is richly layered with outstanding details, vividly recalled and expressed. I was sorry when he stopped. I do not know the title*, but I'll let you know when I do. It is going to be very worth reading.

*Saturday, April 21, 2007: The title is In the Land of Long Fingernails.

Looking at "You're Soaking In It!"

I had not realized it until just a few minutes ago, but "You're Soaking In It!" is currently the most popular poem in my blog. Of the most recent 100 hits, it had 26 (that's all my free service counts.) Little did I know when I posted that poem on March 18, 2006, that I was fascinating some people. I remember the line from the detergent commercial, where Madge is doing somebody's nails, and lets drop that her client is soaking her nails in whatever dish detergent it was.

I had to read the poem again to remember that it was about mirrors and mathematics, and visiting Versailles and Firenza and what those places meant to me and how they changed my view of the world.

(several hours later)

I read it to the writers at the club meeting tonight: polite applause, then a newbie who had arrived during my read excitedly asked to read, and we went on with no discussion. I think it is hard to discuss poetry without seeing it; I guess I should expect that maybe next time I'll take copies for everyone. Next time, I think I'll read "Linen", and give out copies. All I have to do is remember that.

Kung Fu Fan

These are pictures of George doing the Kung Fu fan form. This form was practised by monks who were forbidden to carry weapons. Of course, the fans can inflict significant harm upon anyone foolish enough to challenge a practitioner. I believe the monks' fans were metal, but just hearing the fans snap through the air is enough to make one realize that cloth and bamboo can be pretty formidable too.

The Divine Women

You can be one of the first to check out this site: The Divine Women. Rosemarie Collins gave me the link. Her daughter, Carla is one of the partners in it, and Rosemarie will be writing a column called "Ask Mama Divine". Since Rosemarie and Carla are both wickedly funny, whether you are male or female or both, this is a site to put on your favorites list.

Carla's current blog on the site, called "I Am So Not Money", features a Canadian Tire bill — glad I checked (that was so yesterday) a new article is up, called "Big In Japan", and features a shot of sumo wrestlers.

Congratulations, Bill!

My buddy Bill Roddy, (photo left) has just won the best actor award in the EODL Full Length Play Festival, for his portrayal of the father in A.R. Gurney's The Cocktail Hour, which I reviewed last week in wordcurrents.

Bill has been an actor since the beginning of the universe. He has a comic sensibility that reaches deep into the character with total commitment. But he is also a dramatic actor of great sensitivity, as some of you saw when he played the whole life-span of the central character Bubby in A Song After Living at the proto-Weaveshed theatre that we built specifically for the show, and tore down right after.

Congratulations, Bill! Well done.