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from the Cornwall Collegiate & Vocational School's 200th Reunion Committee; the first work he read from was an unpublished memoir based on his job working in a cemetery in Toronto.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.

"The Canadian" — a train ride, a country

The link for the title of this piece takes you to the whole category of poems I posted in my blog (and will continue to post there) . Here is a photo of the staircase in the lounge car:

The cars (manufactured in 1950) used to belong to the Candian Pacific Railway (CPR), which ran a little to the south of the Canadian National Railway (CNR). They are stainless steel and very art deco. In the photo, you can see the dome, which gives a 360 degree view of everything.






Here is a unique view out the rear of the train, through the lounge window:

In future posts, I shall give you other views, some particularly inspirational with regard to particular poems.