​“It’s really, really tough to be honest with people without scaring the hell out of them.” 
 
Too much of our world in too much pain as we crawl out of pandemic hiding into an
Apoplectic wasteland, the speed with which fiction overtakes fact is astonishing;
but the speed at which fiction becomes fact is      unfortunately
even more astonishing     and dire.

2 degrees too many for too many years. Too many burning balls of fire rein
down on too many no-rain days; a million days too many.
Was this what happened to Mars?

Too many garbage piles. Too many rising oceans overturning too many lives.
Too many droughts inciting too many fires               and riots,
over too many injustices. Not enough water for too many every-bodies.
Good thing our Economy is healthy; Nothing is free.
Using the pool water to put out the forest fires as wildfires rage on                 
every continent.                 And there is not enough pool water,
or streams or rivers or lakes or puddles, and not enough                      space
or clean air or food.          Fuck Hope!

Let’s build more -- amidst a time of crisis                   &             environmental displacement;
Build more towers and parking lots and malls and condos,
and pack in the herd like tins of sardines.  Why haven’t we done something?
Too many people doing too many nothings –
until there is nothing left to save, and no reason left to bother.
2 degrees will cook our planet      will cook us all.
Too many             couldn’t be bothered to act         for too many reasons.
 
It’s time to be tough. It’s time to scare the hell out of people.
This is our only home. There is no Planet B.
 
I want to know nothing. I want to know everything.
And        Corporate’s getting nervous.
No more elephants and only 1 humpback whale.
Too many summer hearts from too many orange days.
If it turns yellow, you must mellow.
If it turns red, think happy things instead.                   Red means dead.
We’ve all became lost,   and we’ve fallen away                   off course;
We’re running out of time.
​
“And whenever you feel sad or lonely,
just imagine Gustav Mahler communicating with you from another
place and time before this one” she said                 once
when the Earth was vibrant & hopeful.
I’m sure you’d do the same for me             wouldn’t you?
Do we understand that we can die from a sunny day?
Broken heart days – The world makes us sick
because we made the world sick.
If you are receiving this, please respond                   please                   respond –
in this place         in this now.
We, who are us, share the world; when it becomes less, so do we.
1 for yes, 2 for no – Are you in heaven? Is there heaven? When Earth is hell?
 
It’s time to be tough. It’s time to scare the hell out of people.
This is our only home. There is no Planet B.
 
(April 28/29. 2023)

​ONCE UPON A TIME
     there was a world built out of hope & faith.
Dead crabs on beaches;
     Dead souls in streets;
Flooded churches falling over crumbling cliffs
into rising oceans from melting glaciers.
     Oh, do you know there’s a future?
Are you certain? Because I’ve not heard good things.
The sanctuary is a swimming pool;
Everyone’s leaving.
We’re good. Surely they aren’t going to let us disappear?
     Radioactive sun and poison mosquitoes;
It’s too hot out to hate people these days.
It’s better to be on the first boat out of town than on the one that never left.
     A spiritual first responder taking care of people who are drowning in a riptide of magma and great despair – Why is God doing this to us?
And, if it is not God, then what lies have we been fed to believe
by leaders who want us complacent and unknowing?
Look at how badly they’ve fucked everything up!
     There’s always hope…
But the sun has seared my skin.
I’m blistered and broken;
I’ve come undone.
     Politicians run amok; politics –
nothing you’d ever want to get involved in;
Nobody wins if we were to sink beneath the waves.
Why isn’t God stopping this? Or the better question is –
why aren’t we stopping any of this?
Maybe it’s because humans suck.
Who cares? – another shelter shut;
Not to be a dick, but the homeless where already homeless… can’t
they do that anywhere?
     Not everything can be saved.
For someone to win, another must lose, soooooo……?????
I did what needed to be done.
For all of you. (But not you or you or you.)
Our cities now float on the bodies of the poor.
Even the privatized rich bitches need to evacuate;
Hurricanes and floods don’t care
who has found higher ground and who is floundering
in the current that is stronger than faith & hope.
     Should we maybe just silently sink below the waves?
At this point, what more is there?
None of this makes any sense to me.
     But I’m glad I’m alive.
I’m glad you’re alive.

It’s up to us to choose to save our world.
There is no Planet B.

​(May 5/6, 2023)

​Imminent Danger/ The Face of God (from an Internet Café.)
There are decisions that we are asked to make in our lifetimes.
Decisions that in previous times, would have been left to the Gods.
Where are the Gods, now?
Population
Control
Oh
(It’s Father’s Day.
Can’t imagine why he isn’t here.
Because he’s a goofball.)               And, speaking of fuck ups…
 
They don’t know how badly we fucked it up.
Climate change is like a bear, and
we’ve all been in the ring               with the bear
for quite some time…
Oh, pssst, by the way… the bears certainly know how badly we fucked it up.
 
None of this makes any sense.
I’m erasing all of it.                            If only
If we could turn back time…
We’d probably do it all over again.             Oh         
 
Leafs are losing.                  Oh
yeah, they would be…
 
Oh, she’s not answering.
Oh, It’s hot outside.                           Let’s have a BBQ.
 
Could use a friendly face;
I know that if we work together, we can sort it all out.
There are better ways – even you must see that?                                                                  Oh, there are
And if the billionaires this century gave birth to would have focused on them             Instead
of proving their manhood by shooting (their) rockets into space,
then we would not be here now.                 Oh,
the problem is bigger than the weight of the sun.
 
We’ve treated this planet like an all-you-can-eat buffet for 250+ years and now we have T-250 to live before we implode in on our very own stupidity vomit.                               Oh.
“You alone – up there –  not going to solve the problem,” says the Problem…
Our trusty Leaders will simply set another goal & oh              sign another treaty &       then
move the goal/ignore the treaty. Oh. It’s fine.
The real reckless experiment is the one civilization is wrecking – and nobody can claim they didn’t know – many science fiction novels are as accurate as Nostradamus -- they have predicted our present wreck-full predicament.                                                                                                                  
Are we going to solve the problem or are we going to sit        IDLE       idling          until the problem solves us?

• BOOM! -- What was that?

Don’t know.
Maybe it was the sun and we’ll all be dead in 8 minutes?!
                It wasn’t us:
Russia’s blaming India, India’s blaming China, Iran’s blaming Pakistan, and everyone blames the U.S.
(O Canada says, “Sorry, eh!”)            It seems it’s all gone tits over peach baskets.
Oh             The world is a fine place &
worth fighting for.
 
But you can’t fight for the world if you’re not here.
And we’re not Gods.
We’re just parents & children.
 
What’s going to happen now?                     Oh, I don’t know.                 Nobody does.
               
There is NO PLANET B
(Fading image of Permanent Oh Face – Botox face - Hollywood actress on HD TV because I’m s-O watching too much Apple TV)
(Also, Oh, h-O-pe)

(May 12, 2023)

What is happening, right now?
     Something exploded in the sky.
     And crashed on the Queensway.
     The 403 is jumbled,
     and the Skyway is squelched.
     Can’t breath                       drive into oblivion;
     Not breathing is the new normal -- It’s just the way we are now.
 
                (At market in the not-so-distant future)
               “Come get your drought-resistant seeds…”
               “Pay for your clean air Hookah – only twenty-five dol-lar!”
               “Rice for you, for only 50!”
 
And it’s not even real rice; it’s that synthetic crap,
but you can eat it, so, it’s good.
Is it?                        Everyone I know has some kind of cancer
and half are dying.
 
People end up storing away parts of themselves
until they are non-existent.
Storage reduction. Lost Memories.
Don’t worry – you won’t even notice they’re gone.
                                                   That’s the beauty of forgetting.                    What?!
Nothing.

     Happily, ever after                            like the movies.
     It won’t go the way you want                       it never does.
     We’re each so insignificant that no one even knows that we exist;
     Except Karma          balance.              
     I aim to do more good; carrying on the mission.
 
                    “What? Why?”  
​                
                    Fuck you, man. I believe in things, alright?!
                    Rains could come back. It might snow.
                    The world isn’t necessarily going to end, okay?
                    You gotta believe in possibilities – I believe in a happy ending.
 
Magic Beans.

What if it’s not what you want?
It’s great.             
                    Is it?
It is a Great Mess.
 
Even if They don’t acknowledge it,
it’s still going to cost trillions of dollars;
And that will decimate Human Society
 
forever.
There is no Planet B.
 
There’s just no way to repair the loss of brain cells.

​(May 19/20, 2023)

​What? 30 poems in 30 days...
​
NaPoWriMo, or National Poetry Writing Month, is an annual project in which participating poets attempt to write a poem a day for the month of April. Read more here: https://www.napowrimo.net/about/

​My NaPoWriMo Experience…
I have dabbled with NaPowriMo for 10 years (2013, really?! Wow!). Have I ever managed a poem a day?... Well, only once. April 2020, the first official month of COVID, and I suspect many folks were actually able to do this one. What else were we doing?! Plus, there was no better way to deal with the turmoil of those crazy times. Sometimes, when April has been too busy, I’ve done another random month, like Poetember in 2018. I have always started NaPoWriMo all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed but sometimes I don’t make it further than that (I’m looking at you, 2019!). Usually, I make it through about half a month. I’ve learned to go with the flow. If not writing an actual poem each day, I might work on editing, or pairing an old poem with media, or doing Word Work activities (like Wordle). So, more accurately, I aim to spend at least 30 minutes on poetry work for 30 days. (In a perfect world, I do that already, but lets just say, I use Poetry Month as a much-needed poetry push in the right direction😊

Check out my other post, here: https://towerpoetry.ca/blog/towerpoetry.ca/blog/

Art is the answer to everything. Think about it… Feeling sad or mad? Make art! Want world peace? Make art not war! Bored? There’s always art! Okay, maybe art isn’t the answer to absolutely everything, but it’s pretty darn close!
 
I can hear you… “But I’m not an artist,” you might be saying, “I suck at art!”

“Phooey!” is what I say to you! If you can make a mark with something on anything, then you are an artist.
 
A dude called Joseph Beuys agrees. He said, “Everyone is an artist.” Wait? That’s what I said. But he also said it, so there.
 
Pablo Picasso said, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once one grows up.” This is what I will help you realize.

 
The first thing to know is that Art is actually pretty easy, and you can definitely do it.
 
Try this - anytime. No time like the present (or right after this speech)! Pick up a paint brush, get some paint, or a marker or pencil. Get paper and make a mark. 

Secondly, practice makes perfect. Nope. Nope! NOPE!! Wipe that word - perfect - from your brain. Perfect is unachievable. No one and nothing is perfect — perfectly imperfect, perhaps. In fact, I say we remove the word from existence altogether. Instead, we’ll say: “ Practice makes better.” This is a simple concept. The more you do something, the better you will get at that something.

Talent is great. If you got it, use it, but practise is what really makes artists awesome… or allows anyone to be good at anything. When you were a baby, you didn’t know how to walk. You had to practice, bit by bit - first, you lifted your head and discovered your arms and legs and tried crawling. Then, you stood up (and fell down), all before even taking your first step. You had to practice  — and fall — a lot! But you did it. Are you perfect at it?

No! Trick question. There is no such thing as perfect, remember?! Are you better at walking than when you were a baby? Of course! I know sometimes I trip, even fall, and I most definitely walk into loads of things, and that’s okay. I try not to be a klutz because I just want to do better than before. And it’s the same with art.


“You were born an Original. Don’t die a copy.” John Mason

Incidentally, this is the third important thing to remember… when I say better, I mean better than YOU did before. Not better than anyone else. Be YOU. Do art that YOU love; how you LOVE to do it. (Okay, maybe at school you must do some art you don’t love, and you may have to do it a certain way in order to get marks, but you can still learn from it, even if you are learning what you DON’T like.) Learning what you don’t like is just as important as knowing what you DO like. Then, it’s simple. If you like something, do more of it and do it often. Try changing it a bit. If you don’t like a mark, cover it up. Try again. No big deal.

So back to that that Joseph Beuys dude, who said, “Everyone is an artist,” he meant that being an artist means being creative in whatever way is available to you and feels natural to YOU.


We’re on a roll, here, so now you are ready to Embrace Ugly. What?! I repeat embrace UGLY! In fact, make ugly art on purpose. What?! Why?! Note how it makes you feel. Has the world ended? Nope. Did you learn something. Yep. You learned what you don’t like. Now, cover it up and keep going. Guess what? You might even like what happened. That happens a lot in art. I’m a gonna tell you a little secret… ssshhhh…. Listen up and tell absolutely everyone: a lot, if not most great artists and stunning art happens by mistake. 

Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and make them often. If you aren’t failing, you are doing the Art wrong (which is essentially the only way to do Art wrong). It’s how we learn new things and make great art even better each time.

And, if you are loving your ugly art and happy to make mistakes, then you will not be afraid to take risks in you’re art. Ask, “what if…?” Try the thing. If you don’t like it, cover it up and try a different thing.

“But art materials are expensive, and we should not waste them.” That can be true, indeed. Use materials you don’t worry about using up. Think dollar store. There are so many excellent art-making items that are affordable… you can buy ‘fancy smancy’ art-shop materials when you have built your confidence and reframed your beliefs about making art.


Finally, and this last guideline is by far the most important one… Have fun. Art IS fun. Play. Experiment. As Gord Downie sings, “Looking for a place to happen, making stops along the way.” Enjoy the process. Don’t worry so much about the outcome. As Picasso and I say,“Learn rules like a pro, so you can break them like a champ.” 

“The artist is not a special kind of person; rather each person is a special kind of artist,” says Ananda Coomaraswamy. And the best news is “ You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have, said Maya Angelou.

In summary, let’s review: To be an artist, do art. Easy peasy. Everybody is an artist.

Go! Make art, Human!

(February 2023)

Quote Sources: 1. Joseph Beuys; 2. Pablo Picasso - bit.ly/3KFksUNg; 3. John Mason - book cover; 4. Gord Downie - N. Schneider original photography; 5. Pablo Picasso - https://artjournalist.com/acrylic-paint-brushes/; 6. Ananda Coomaraswamy - bit.ly/3m6CRzF; 7. Maya Angelou - Flickr: York College ISLGP

I table the prompt for another time. Indulge me, I implore you, for today I shall post another poem of a similar Prompt from an entirely separate situation: at a Writer’s Workshop, put on by Nest & Story, the prompt was a random picture handed to me. I don’t have the picture, but I do have the following poem...

Characters (in a roomful of other rather non-descript, stereotypical, poser party people)

Paul - a dude
Chameleon guy -
Sly Cat -
Phil - a dude
Lenny - has a giraffe head
Bird Brain -
Buddy -
And, me - hiding behind the potted plant


It’s a zoo in here and I’m hiding behind the potted plant again.

You see, I had convinced myself to get out of the house more.
I vowed that I’d actually make it to a party that I said I would go to.
I’m here.
I miss the familiar comfort of my couch.

So, anyway, it’s a zoo in here and I’m hiding behind the potted plant...

It’s kinda cozy back here in my own little space.
I peer through the leaves and sneak a peek.
I notice Paul, in his dapper suit, talking to that chameleon guy, you know....
the one who’s always changing his views to please?
He’s got a purple cravat, knitted knotted just so #hashtag #trending,
and his hair is just so precise, not a strand out of place.
Why, just once, I’d like to see it askew...

I wrinkle my nose as the thick stench of pomp wafts my way,
ah, but it’s just cigar smoke and
I can’t stifle my.... aaaaa - aaaa - cchhhhhhooooooooo...
and everyone turns to look at the potted plant that sneezed
before turning back to their own one-up-manship sparring matches,
each trying to become the ultra-Alpha, conversational victor of the room

Sly Cat, and Phil (who’s got his bow tie on this evening,
so you know it’s a special night);
well, they speak of stocks and bonds and such, and since
they normally never even notice me on the street,
I’m not sure I have the courage to approach.

Even Lenny - he’s got a giraffe head, for Pete’s sake! -
even he is part of things.
He’s there, with Bird Brain and Buddy,
having a fine time... I’d love to know what they were saying....

Turns out, I never knew that what they were actually talking about was:
Sly Cat and Phil, bow ties and bonds,
Paul and cravats and cigars,
Chameleon guys and that one freak crouching in the corner behind the sneezing potted plant.


But, hey, it’s a zoo in here!

I tried to find a picture and couldn’t. I was almost bummed out until I realized that the poem IS the picture... and I - and you - could take it upon ourselves to make a picture of our own.... ooooihhhh, fun:)

Reflection & Aha... I used to worry about posting a poem every day, which was silly. I work on poetry every day during May, nay April (but the rhyme...), which is why there is NAPOWRIMO. I realize that mass posting every day brings an increased awareness to Poetry. But, we can only do what we can do, and it may seem obvious to some, but once I gave myself permission to go at my own pace, I may actually finish a NAPOWRIMO...It won’t be 30 poems in 30 days, but it will be 30 poems, based on 30 days of NAPOWRIMO Prompts (or not, ‘cause Poetic License) spread over several months.

I love this prompt and have been trying to make a poem, but it’s been a work in progress.... and I remembered that I have done a poem with this Prompt... As an occasional teacher, Aka. The Sub, this was an assignment the teacher had left for her grade 8 class. So cool! So, we all settled to poetry writing (they were really good kids at a really great school)....

i believe in You --
teaching in the world today takes everything we got
it causes so many worries. I wish we weren’t so fraught

slammed in the press for trying to do our best
taking away money, packing the classrooms like sardines
and it seems that no one is learning a thing

AXE fumes and obnoxious attitude ooze
i’m assaulted by curses coming at me, a mere messenger of knowledge --
and, I’d like to think — a harbinger of delight
i try with all my might
it used to be that eyeballs stared at me, they couldn’t wait to see
now, they get all glazey as they peel them from their screens
farther away and harder to reach
thumbs thump and slide, it’s one bumpy ride
machines rule the room, and I must be on a screen
to make my lessons boom
OMG it’s dizzy-making to think of all the changes
Life’s a test, full of stress,
but you’ll burst your seams,
as you follow your dreams.
i wish You all will soar to success.

reaching all the Kids today takes everything you’ve got
a worthy challenge I won’t give up on; I give it my best shot
I believe in You, the future.

(May 24, 2019, reworked/edited 2020)

...Ted Talks, that is.

When I feel in need of some guidance, and wouldn't it be great if I could afford professional help? -  but I can't...
so I, like so many others look to Ted Talks for answers - and if you don't, well then you definitely should!

So far, I've learned that I am not just quirky or weird, but I'm 'Multipotentialiate'.  And I am making myself 'Super Better' as I "Live My Legend", and I align my work with my moral compass, or WHY I do what I do...  

​Because I am passionate about the Arts, education, creativity and happiness - yes, happiness - if you aren't happy, then why bother?  Why bother?!.

While we're on the topic...

Ted Talks:
​
​​Emilie Wapnick
Why some of us don't have one true calling
What do you want to be when you grow up? Well, if you're not sure you want to do just one thing for the rest of your life, you're not alone. In this illuminating talk, writer and artist Emilie Wapnick describes the kind of people she calls "multipotentialites" — who have a range of interests and jobs over one lifetime. Are you one?

Jane McGonigal
The game that can give you 10 extra years of life
When game designer Jane McGonigal found herself bedridden and suicidal following a severe concussion, she had a fascinating idea for how to get better. She dove into the scientific research and created the healing game, SuperBetter. In this moving talk, McGonigal explains how a game can boost resilience — and promises to add 7.5 minutes to your life.

Scott Dinsmore
How to find work you love
Scott Dinsmore quit a job that made him miserable, and spent the next four years wondering how to find work that was joyful and meaningful. He shares what he learned in this deceptively simple talk about finding out what matters to you — and then getting started doing it.

Simon Sinek
How great leaders inspire action
Simon Sinek has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership — starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?" His examples include Apple, Martin Luther King, and the Wright brothers ...​
​

Curiosity. Creativity. Possibilities.... New ventures on my horizon:)...