Landline

This chair was made by artist Setareh Yasan and stands outside her backyard studio in Kensington-Cedar Cottage, just south of Kingsway, where some of us gathered yesterday on the occasion of artist Vivienne Bessette's Landline.

Of Landline, Yasan writes:

"Landline started from an invitation and evolved into a collaboration. Consisting of walks around Kingsway-Cedar Cottage neighbourhood, reading poetry and rebuilding a gate, Landline highlighted the complexity of human relations, our particular relationship to art and the community that surrounds us or our connection to the community that we build and we feel belonged to. Landline didn’t have a start date and it’s intricate nature of conversations defies a definite ending. Herewith, we  would like to invite the community to join us in celebration of this project on July 30th."

Fulford Harbour

We arrive at the Fulford Harbour ferry terminal forty minutes before the next scheduled departure. We walk up the hill, look around, then walk back, as one might at the opening of a Jack Hodgins novel.

Except in this instance we take our time, visiting a gift shop filled with pottery, jewelry and cards, then a cafe bookstore, where the social distancing protocols are blithely trampled. There is an older longhaired man in the corner behind a laptop who speaks to everyone who enters.

"I like your shirt," he says to me, and I think he means the shirt underneath what we in 1970s Vancouver called a mac jacket, but no he means the mac.

Turning to leave the man selects Fairport Convention's "She Moves Through the Fair" from his laptop. Because the sound is coming through the shop's speakers it occurs to me he has more to do with this place than drink its coffee and talk to its patrons.

Vine Sneaking Up on a Chair

The arbutus moves horizontally, carrying its dead limbs with it. The arbutus is a vine, not a tree.

Walkers Hook

Walkers Hook Saltspring Island (1976) is a watercolour by Toni Onley (1928-2004).

That's all.

Backyard

There is an edge to summer. Too wet to touch on the spring side of the solstice, already curling in the first week of July.

The picture up top was taken at 6:45pm yesterday. More summer yellow than autumn gold.

Lorine Niedecker

It's been a while since I looked up the poet Lorine Niedecker. Happy to see she has a website now, made and maintained by The Friends of Lorine Niedcecker, Inc.

Here's a short one, a love poem:

I knew a clean man
but he was not for me.
Now I sew green aprons
over covered seats. He

wades the muddy water fishing,
falls in, dries his last pay-check
in the sun, smooths it out
in Leaves of Grass. He's
the one for me.

For those looking to expand their poetry collections, I would recommend Jenny Penberthy's Lorine Niedecker: Collected Works, published by the U of California Press, in 2002. Lots of short poems like the one above, in addition to some excellent contextual material.

Lane Display

This happens a lot in our lane, but never have I seen it responded to publicly. Takes a mattress to make a billboard (I usually get broken office chairs).

For those open to a closer reading, see the note below (above the "B" in "PUBLIC"):