I have been reading through your story
in short bits. Your words hurt
my heart. It is so much work for some
people to survive from day to day. They
don’t deserve their painful realities, and my
opportunities are so apparent,
under my reading lamp.
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#firstnationsauthors #indigenousauthor
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(ignore WordPress ads)
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I didn’t see your ghosts
feel your spirits in the air
I didn’t understand what
drove folks to leave there;
On Culloden Moor the Scots
were slaughtered and died
Then drove from their lands
in Canada they arrived.
Their hardy characters
explored from sea to sea,
naming off the rivers,
(and my university).
The brutal battle that was fought
upon this day
led to our confederation
and the TransCanada
Highway.
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Most of what I know about the Battle of Culloden I learned from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. However, it’s very cool that my husband’s ancestor Dr. John Rattray was Bonnie Prince Charlie’s personal physician in Edinburgh, and was saved from the noose afterwards only by the timely interference of his golf buddy and judge Duncan Forbes. (John Rattray was Captain of St Andrews and one of the signatories of the official rules of golf in 1744. Cronyism in golf plainly goes back to the beginning of the sport).
In dreams
I have been gifted with a tortoise.
A slow moving friend who will live long.
When I wake, I google
whether tortoises can lived in a backyard
through Canadian winter.
before I realize it was only
a dream.
They escaped from beneath the thumb of a Ugandan despot
Fleeing between gazes of men armed with machine guns
And appeared in my back alley. Brown skinned. Muslim.
My friend. My first love.
His soundtrack music now echoes from our TV screens.
They escaped from Soviet Russia during the brief window when
Jews were allowed to leave
And appeared in the junior high gym on the first day of school.
My best friend. Now in Geneva,
with the Humanitarian Commission for Refugees.
They escaped from Eritrea as it tore itself from Ethiopia
Newly weds running by night, sleeping through days
And appeared at my husband’s office, to defend children
Our good friends, first social work
Then labour mediator, helping opposites agree.
They’re escaping from Syria and the religious extreme,
Risking their lives for a chance of happiness and security.
Among the crowds, will we find
New friends making new lives
In our neighbourhood, where there’s safety?
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I was pondering last night, that some of the most significant people in my life came to Canada as refugees. How different my life would have been had they remained in their home countries! While I would wish them never having to live the fear of their respective escapes, how blessed am I than Canada welcomed them, and how blessed is the country because of their labours here! They have each contributed greatly to society.
My mom’s first friend in her new community as a newly wed was a refugee from Germany who owned the apartment they rented as well as a business and other apartment buildings. I’ve taught students who were refugees from the civil war when Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia dissolved. Our country was not weakened by our welcome to these desperate people; it was strengthened.
#JustinTrudeau #cdnpoli
During Canada’s recent election campaign, the Conservatives denigrated Liberal leader Justin Trudeau because he had a degree in literature and was a drama teacher. (He also taught French and Math). They thought that made him incapable of running a country. I have taught Drama and French. I have a degree in literature. I smiled, because I truly believe that if you can manage a high school drama class, you can manage a country. If you were a good teacher, you’ll be able to manage that country with consideration, respect, and intelligence. As I see them, I will point out how PM Trudeau’s teaching experience is making him a good leader. These posts will be in addition to my daily poetry, so you won’t miss out.
On the first day of session, Trudeau went to welcome all the MPs to Parliament Hill. He told reporters this would set the right tone, that regardless of party affiliation, that each MP is in this together, working for Canadians.
This is precisely the policy of teachers, who on the first day of school (and days subsequent, of course) stand at the doors of their classrooms to welcome students, judge their frame of mind, and set the tone of cooperation and connection within their class.
On the side of the highway:
a body of thick fur and flat leathery tail.
Why did the beaver cross the road?
I guess we’ll never know.
The Canada Geese
have taken up penthouse accommodations
in the osprey platforms.
Two lady geese on two platforms
watch the cars pass on the highway
enjoying the view,
liking this nest.
They’re distant neighbours
proud to be moving on up.
I wonder how that will go
when the ospreys return?
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(Ospreys are raptor type birds that like to live beside lakes and rivers where they are avid fishers, are partial to building their huge nests on the T-bars of power poles. The hydro company and/or local naturalists, build platforms beside tempting poles to relocate them to safer premises. The ospreys will return to these nesting sites year after year. Apparently, the geese like them, as well! This video is from the other side of the country, back in 2011)
Last week cancer claimed 52 year old Canadian singer Raylene Rankin, a member of Cape Breton Nova Scotia’s Rankin Family. Her stratospheric soprano voice empowered the harmonies of their Gaelic folk songs. Here is the Rankin Family in 2010 at Toronto’s Massey Hall, performing one of her signature songs, “We Rise Again.”
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Requiescat in pace Raylene Rankin 1960-2012
Keep those angels entertained, Raylene.
Oh yeah. Just about the coolest thing ever!
I am extraordinarily un-Canadian in that I don’t like beer of any sort, but this is creative genius!
HAPPY CANADA DAY, July 1st!
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Shawn L. Bird 
Canadian, eh! July 1, 2012
Tags: accent, Alberta, canada, Canada Day, Canadian, Christina, flag, flash mob, Ottawa, saying
In honour of Canada’s birthday, here is a video from Christina who lives in Alberta, about things from Canada.
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Someday, I want to go to Ottawa to see the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill. Here’s a flash mob among the crowds waiting for events to get under way. Note to self: it looks like you have to go early, especially in years when royalty is attending!
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