Inaugural Frank Scott Poetry Day Celebration

Time: 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Date: Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Place: Greene Centre, 1090 Avenue Greene, Westmount, Quebec.

The first Frank Scott Poetry Day will be held August 1, 2018.

Marking the 119th anniversary of his birth, Frank Scott was a Governor-General’s award winning poet, a social democrat, professor of constitutional law, and well-known civil rights advocate.

Reading their favourite Frank Scott poems, the following will also share a poem of their own:

• Thomas William (Bill) Evans

• Beryl Wajsman

• Ehab Lotayef

• Helaine Kliger

• Sandra Sjollema

• Donald Winkler

• Ryan Ruddick

 

Sunday Poem: If I Should Succumb, Please Water My Plants

It’s silly to put a poem on my blog in Green, but silliness and poetry sometime go hand in hand. Apologies to all the serious poets. In any case, here is my Sunday Poem: If I Should Succumb, Please Water My Plants. Please Share.

 

If I should succumb, please water my plants

I hope that they may someway continue

With life I have developed a romance.

How many years did I get dirt on my pants?

And obviously more in and on my shoe

If I should succumb, please water my plants.

As my poems and peonies grow more askance

I feel as though I’m tipping the canoe

With life I have developed a romance.

I threw seeds of tomato into soil by chance

Steady and awkwardly they grew

If I should succumb, please water my plants.

Death is a season I hate to glance

Unless of course the myth of heaven is true

With life I have developed a romance.

Remember me and you will advance

And do remember when water is due

If I should succumb, please water my plants

With life I have developed a romance.

Sunday Poem: Poem About Poems

Somedays Sundays creep up like an unday. Today was one such oneday. I was reminded to post my Sunday poem by one of my most loyal fans. If you don’t want to miss one of my future Sunday poems, I recommend you subscribe to my blog, Lockeblog. In any case, here is my belated beloved Sunday poem…

Poem About Poems

If I had time I would write a poem

about poems

Poems that detail the betrayal of jails

Poems to advance equality and air quality

Poems to petition the condition of air conditioners

Poems of love and laughter

     of kissing and what comes after

Poems about law, legality, and grudges of judges

Poems to decry the inhumanity and insanity of man

If I had time

I would spend time

buy time

find time

to write a poem about poems.

 

Frank Scott Poetry Day Celebration, Aug 1

The word is out.

There will be a birthday celebration of Frank(F.R.) Scott and his poetry. Marking the 119th anniversary of his birth, Frank was a Governor-General’s award winning poet, a social democrat, professor of constitutional law, and civil rights advocate.

Numerous poets will be reading their favourite Frank Scott poems, and in Frank’s well-known spirit of sharing, the poets will also share a poem of their own.

Time: 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Date: Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Place: Greene Centre, 1090 Avenue Greene, Westmount

Westmount Sidewalks

This summer the City of Westmount is reconstructing numerous streets in their entirety. Dust, inconvenience, and noise are the key words that apply. One such street is Clandeboye, not far from where I live. There I’ve had occasion to traipse across the subject of this week’s Sunday Poem, Westmount Sidewalks:

They are two feet deep
So deep I weep
Such thick concrete
Cementing the taxpayers’
burial

Sunday Poem: Yo Canada

Canada’s red ensign flag(1921 – 1957) contained green maple leafs.

Yo Canada

Our loam and fertile land

True matriarch love

In all thy sons command.

With climate change we see thee rise

Of True North Beaufort Sea.

With fur and hide

Yo Canada, we stand on guard modestly.

God keep our land glorious with tree

Yo Canada, we stand on guard modestly.

Yo Canada, we stand on guard modestly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Star-Spangled Poem, or A July Fourth Poem To End Trade Wars

Shall I set a tariff on July Fourth

If our leaders can’t employ some common sense?

Let us be friends from this day forth.

 

I read that American rockets glare north

But let’s put down our sabers from this day hence

Shall I set a tariff on July Fourth?

 

Children know inherently war has no worth

But like trees, with age, we grow more dense

Let us be friends from this day forth.

 

Let’s build a wall to protect our common swarth

Or around our elected leaders with a fence

Shall I set a tariff on July Fourth?

 

A little Tit for Tat yields more Darth and Dearth

At a time we all seek more recompense

Let us be friends from this day forth.

 

A handshake ain’t enough to save the Earth

Let us make pretense forever past tense

Shall I set a tariff on July Fourth?

Let us be friends from this day forth.

Directly At Me, or Here’s What I Saw Without Having A Video Camera During A Rather Bloody Bike Ride Through Montreal

I was riding my bike carefully

along Montreal’s de Maisonneuve freeway

It’s a bike path some say

Despite being designed dreadfully.

I was headed in direction westerly.

He was headed directly at me

at the intersection of St. Lawrence and Ontario—

Ominous Canadian names that oft collide.

I was out for a leisurely ride

Many Annies were headed home after work

This was the scenario.

Toward me a convoy of eight were travelling in line

Another, a fastard, decided to pass

He looked to his right toward the other cyclists

He looked left toward a society of cars

He looked everywhere but straight ahead.

I noticed him coming at me, directly at me

I applied my brakes, prepared for impact

When he finally saw me, I saw shock in his eyes

He squeezed his brakes with all his power

His tire turned, his bike went down, he went down.

His face hit the asphalt, the tar, the rock,

before the bulk of his body

struck my front tire

Blood spilled from his eyebrow as he got up

I looked down at the road as red droplets turned the road into a dream

I reached for a handkerchief from my back pocket

but had none.

Crimson raced down the side of his face

closest to me.

He looked directly at me.