restrained elegance

“The moment the brush touches down, the painter is free to explore. The brush carries the momentum as the artist explores the moment—moment and momentum are the springboard . . . The moment now becomes the distance.”

Barbara Guest

symbiosis

click on image to enlarge

::: excerpt from Symbiosis by Barbara Guest (poet) and Laurie Reid (artist) :::
(Kelsey St Press, Berkeley, 2000)

::: art :::

I'm very excited about my first art class with Catherine Tammaro on Thursday evening. Check out her work at Room 101.

excerpt from Aqua Reliqua

::: Lake Lorwall, August 06 :::

WEATHER OFFICE DISPATCH

late fall

open lakes

low air

negatively tilted

bombs out

a record central dip

Great Lakes gusts

buffet 50 knot squalls

storm force winds

intensify isobaric pressure

between systems

gnashed warnings

fly over all lakes

the signal hoist

a square red flag

8 feet by 8 feet

black center predicting

storm force winds

hammering trajectories

marked violence

vacation photos

Here are some of the pictures we took at the cottage on Lake Lorwall:

September = music poetry and more music

Scott & I spent last weekend on Olympic Island at the Virgin Festival. We suffered the dampness & cold on Saturday for next to nothing it seemed : the festival ran behind schedule all day, so the Kid Koala and The Flaming Lips sets were cut short, inciting much discussion on Stillepost the next morning. Things ran more smoothly on Sunday, though, and we were glad not to have missed The Raconteurs and our old favorites, Broken Social Scene.

This past Tuesday night, we saw Emily Haines and the Soft Skeleton perform Knives Don't Have Your Back (a gorgeous album that's quickly becoming one of my all-time faves) at the Gladstone Hotel.

Roger Waters is at the ACC this coming Wednesday, performing The Dark Side of the Moon Live. I'm not sure what to expect, just hoping it will be worth a late night mid-week.

Next Saturday, after taking in this month's installment of the Test Reading Series, we'll be at the Drake for Avant Nuit. I'm especially looking forward to the Akumu/Anne Bourne set. My favorite annual September event, Word on the Street, is the next day.

the party's over

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. Here's what I've been up to:

I went back to work this week. Ugh.

Scott, Charlie & I spent the previous week at a cottage in the Ottawa Valley (near Algonquin Park). I picked up the photos yesterday & will post a few later this weekend. While there, I read angela rawling's wide slumber for lepidopterists (loved it!! gorgeous poetry & a beautiful book), Lisa Robertson's The Weather (a bit of a challenge but enjoyable nonetheless) and made serious headway on Aqua Reliquia (it's now firmly off the ground!).

I spent yesterday afternoon roaming around Centre Island. After a week on Lake Lorwall, I was in need of some serious Great Lake time. Feeling much better now.