all of the snow
stares back and smiles at me as I wait for Spring
the five black squirrels feast at the bird feeder
beside the green cedars
the recycling box shines blue at the end of the driveway
I remember now, the bay is that colour in summer
a slow glance up from my bare feet on the sand
after the warm grass
after a lazy nap
love in 10 easy lessons
– William J. Gibson –
in elementary school on Valentine’s Day
the girls giggled and the boys got red faces
and everyone was energized and shy and bold
and spinning in our seats
was it all fun and good or maybe there was more
I wonder were we scared that we might
not get any little red hearts
would be left out
shame on you, Hallmark
how much love flew round the classroom
scraps of red paper
traces of liking
faces with smiles
eyes hiding worry
waiting for the jokes to land
a life time of love songs and romantic movies
toy trains full of imitative emotion
learned behaviours and valiant attempts
to hide from the disappointments
the boredoms, the ache of breaking, roller coasters
of ecstasy and loathing, kisses and kicks,
little red hearts pieces glued back together
again and again, careful with those scissors
they are very sharp
Fascinating article in the LA Times by P. J. Huffstutter about the historical detective hunt to find handwritten documents of Abraham Lincoln. Huffstutter goes on the road with history detectives as they check leads about new sources of Lincoln’s papers.
They found “an original of the so-called “ghost amendment”, a proposed but never ratified, 13th Amendment, which was an attempt to avoid the Civil War by making slavery permanently legal in the South.” This is only the second of 34 originals sent by Lincoln to governors to be found.
Some 11,000 pieces of paper in Lincoln’s handwriting have been found. The task has been made more difficult because immediately after his death, people went into public records and sought legal documents that Lincoln as a lawyer had filed over the 25 years of his legal career prior to his Presidency. They often clipped the signature from the documents. Members of the project have become experts in Lincoln’s handwriting.
The project began back in 1980. In 2000, the Lincoln Legal Papers were published on DVD, a collection of nearly 100,000 legal documents. The hunt for paper is now expanded beyond legal documents. A fascinating story of history and detective work.
Valentine’s Day Dream Preview
– William J. Gibson –
you showed up in a dream again
unbidden I swear
may have to wrestle Sigmund to settle that one
I hope you found a way to trust a man
to open your heart to him
and by so doing forgive your father
for drinking himself to death when you were eleven
I don’t know much about much
but I know that when you do your best
and it isn’t good enough
the tournament schedule loses its shine
and all the rainy days make nothing grow
The Snow is too Damned White
– William J. Gibson –
shovelling the snow
is a reminder of the deaths of January
both parents went in this month
the snow is too damned white
the third and the nineteenth
are the days she died and he died
she four years after him
he walked out in the snow to get the newspaper
after fast shovelling the day before to make a walkway
for the public health nurse
she in the final coma in the hospital
her last words threatening to punch a nurse in the nose
if she did not go get her husband
the snow is too damned white
to make up for the lack of sun
I am always glad to get out of January alive
Spanning the waters of Hog Bay, a great wooden trestle bridge was built in 1908 to carry the Canadian Pacific Railroad from grain elevators at Port McNicholl. 2141 feet long and 50 feet high, it was one of the longest wooden structures on the continent. The pine timbers were 8 feet by 16 feet and pilings of B.C. fir were 65 feet long. The builder was Mike McPeake of Port McNicholl. Patrolled by armed guards in both World Wars, this unique and handsome bridge was last used in 1971 and demolished in 1978.
The curious thing about this bridge is if you look at its location on the shore of Georgian Bay it is difficult to understand why it was needed. I would be interested in knowing why the line could not have been run a half kilometer wider to the west and avoided the water crossing. Someone or somehow the right to that land was not available. I hope to find out some day.
a few years ago I bought a set of glass magic lantern slides from an antique store….most are in a heavy glass strip with lead edges, four images to a strip. I believe these would have been entertainment in a wealthier home in the Victorian period…think early travel illustrations for home entertainment
photographed on a light table with a Nikon 5700 digicam on a tripod
Bluetyger - William J. Gibson's Notebook 