Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Monday, April 18, 2022
City Tree
Back when Bruno Gerussi did his live CBC Radio show out of the Colonnade Theater, I wrote performance pieces for him. City Tree hasn't been on the blog. Perhaps you can hear Bruno's voice...
* * *
it's hard to be a city tree
last summer i had six leaves
this summer i've got ... four
(a lady closed my bottom branch
inside her taxi door)
it's hard to be a city tree
i've only heard that there are birds
no birds land on bay street
except pigeons
pigeons are more people than birds
have you ever noticed?
pigeons never sit in trees
they prefer concrete
like people
it's hard to be a city tree
you wouldn't believe what they do to me
the dogs who lift or squat
while pleasant-faced owners
smile at passers-by
what is there to smile about?
soiled trees
soiled sidewalks
and trees with so many problems
facing that final indignity: pee
it's hard to be a city tree
look up!
you cannot see the sun
mornings it hides behind the bank
afternoons beyond those towers
it's only noon i see the sun
i wish the sun would always shine on me
for trees weren't meant to live in tunnels
it's hard to be a city tree
frozen in snow the winter
frozen in cement the summer
my roots tingle in a sea of hot asphalt
my tap root's in the sewer
and i can still taste last winter's salt
see my wound?
the snow plow clipped me.
it's hard to be a city tree
i fear i can't breathe properly
some days my leaves are gray
and the city settles on me
like dust in a dead man's room
i envy the trees in front of eaton's
it always rains on them
it only rains on me when the store behind me
has its awning up
it rained this morning
but i guess it stopped
i love the rain!
it's hard to be a city tree
the tree that lived next door to me ... isn't
they broke him--
the people in the night
his stump was there for six days
and the hurry-people who work downtown
walked around him
the city eventually took him away
covered his hole with hot tar
i didn't know him well
he was only a little tree
and the city makes sure to plant us
fifty feet apart
so we can never touch each other in the wind
city trees can't touch
it's very sad--
don't you think?
it's hard to be a city tree
they built a cage around my trunk
wire mesh so i could not be touched
i guess it's for protection but
trees ... like ... being touched
a friendly pat from a passerby
kids climbing
the tickles of squirrel feet
i wonder what
squirrels
look like?
bay street
is such a lonely place
for a tree
Sunday, April 17, 2022
Saturday, April 16, 2022
Liz Sheridan ( 1929 - 2022 )
Jerry Seinfeld
@Jerry Seinfeld
"Liz was always the sweetest, nicest TV mom a son could wish for.
Every time she came on our show it was the coziest feeling for me.
So lucky to have known her... "
Friday, April 15, 2022
_Mike Bossy ( 1957 - 2022 )
_
Bossy's 573 goals, most in Islanders history, his run of nine straight seasons with 50 or more goals remains an NHL record. He also still leads the all-time board in goals per game.
And four Stanley Cups.
Légende des Insulaires et natif de Montréal, Québec
Image: via Deadline
Look ma, I'm hiding
_
Celebrity anti-fashion gets more clicks than celebrity red carpet fashion.
Would you rather see a celeb pancaked and gussied up for a party?
Or the same celebrity trying to sneak an incognito run to the corner for more edibles?
You've seen the shot: sunglasses, forgettable oversized sweats and no name sneakers.
Celebrities--sweet dimwits that they are--think no one will recognize them.
But slobwear gets more clicks than strutt stuff.
Dirty coats and bathrobes attract more eyeballs.
The paparazzi is relentless.
Stay in your homes, symps.
You can afford Uber eats.
Fascinating fact: A news photographer named Paparazzo (played by Walter Santesso in the 1960 film La Dolce Vita directed by Federico Fellini) is the eponym of the word paparazzi.
My new word for the day? Eponym.
Eponym ... noun ...a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named or thought to be named.
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