Äiti was crying when I left
hugging me close and weeping.
“Äiti?”
“Et unohta” she whispered.
Don’t forget.
“Muistat sinun Suomen kielesta,
en osaa puhua englanti!” she sniffed.
You have to remember your Finnish!
I can’t speak English!
“Minä muistan, Äiti.”
I will remember.
Years dripped by
on memories and melancholy
but still
Muistan, Äiti.
Yup.
New Rule:
Regardless of how many journalists do, you’re not allowed to call the B.C.T.F. “one of B.C.’s most militant unions” anymore.
It’s a ridiculous thing to say.
If a militant union, let’s say the Longshoremen’s Union , was offered zero percent for six years of the last twelve, and in seventy six consecutive “negotiating “ sessions, their employers demanded, at the table and through the media, that they accept zero percent and then accused the union of refusing to bargain, we would see a “militant” union in action.
Now imagine that over twelve years, the Longshoremen’s employer had been repeatedly censured for bargaining in bad faith, by the United Nations, (10 times), the Supreme Court of Canada, (2005) and the Supreme Court of B.C. (twice) Imagine too that the employer blithely ignored every ruling.
The Longshoremen wouldn’t still be “ bargaining”.The docks would close until the outrage was fixed…
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Today
I watched your smile
twinkling on the seas
I heard your laughter
rustling in the trees
I heard your voice whisper
0n the evening breeze
I saw your image
dancing in the leaves
I felt you everywhere
gifting me with memories
comforting me with peace.
if his eyes
had not captured yours
held them tightly
until you flushed from toes
to hair tips
unable to break free from his gaze
then you would
would not be here now
mesmerized
wishing for the moon.
There is an explosion of me
that while not cause for misery
does lend itself to some worry
(as health dictates less mass, you see).
While pondering this desperate state
in search of cover, you apparate
into my view and tell me straight
the simple way you’d lost your weight.
The fact that you think that I was there
to inspire you is laughable, I swear.
You wish to write and I’m aware
that you will do so, we’re a pair
The universe conspires to bring
Strangers together to the thing
that makes the possibilities ring
Opens universal everything.
Strangers in the mall. Abridged.
“Excuse me?
Can I just say, you look beautiful?
You’re so vibrant and joyful!”
“Why, thank you.
I was just told at a writing conference
that I am colorful and songful.”
“Oh yes! What a perfect description! You are!
What writing conference was this?
I’ve always wanted to write!
The universe has brought you to me
to give me this message!”
“I hope you’ll join us next year,
please say hello. I’ll still look like
this, but hopefully there’ll be less of me.”
“Oh! There’s less of ME! I just lost 40 lbs,
just walking and cutting out chips.”
“Well done!
Clearly the universe brought you to me today.”
So welcome are you
the eagle soars to your window
and grebes dance across the water,
all eager to hear your
words on the lake.
So well said!
The teachers are on strike again? It seems as if they go on strike every year and make our kids lose school days.
Actually, they don’t. Never mentioned, in headline or media, is that since 2001, B.C.’s Liberal government has caused the loss of many more school days than the B.C.T.F ever could.
One media outlet, not untypically, screamed;
“3 strikes, 14 school days lost since 1995, because of the B.C.T.F., one of B.C.’s most “militant” unions.”
While it’s true that teacher strikes resulted in the loss of 14 school days since 1995, such headlines are inexcusably misleading and inflammatory.
Teachers had the right to strike from 1987 to 2002 when the government declared Education an Essential service, outlawed strikes, and removed working conditions from the collective bargaining process.
Ten of the 14 aforementioned lost school days resulted from a single strike in 2005, a strike in response to…
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Shawn L. Bird 