Ridgehouse speaking

Ridgehouse

‘Hello, It’s me…’

I’m still here

standing these

years,

grandparent to

the 11 children,

who grew with me,

and George

whose hands crafted

and sanded, stroked my

curves,

molded me.

 “mother” who scrubbed

me clean of small

brown fingers, washed

my floors and

fell to her knees

11 times as blood

and baby

dropped into my legs.

Their collective hair

adorns my walls,

sheets and toys,

shoes passed down

from one pair feet

to another.

Biscuits, bread, once

baked in my hearth,

now outlawed by

  fire chief who walked

through last Spring.

Lavender, sage hang

by my heart.

cloves in oranges

scent my lungs.

I once knew

Song, and

voices raised in laughter,

prayer

debate.

Neighbours leaned

in close

against my railings.

Coal brought in by horses

and dumped

down upon my

root

of thyme

now gone.

Stay with

me; remember

who I once

held, my

town of

ridges.

#OFLabour

#OFLabour

4 resolutions

1334 real labourers

& 44 exec reps.

I’m with you, call the question.

Agreed.

No race left

behind in this

miserly

reality of

40 hrs/wk servitude for

street housing

beside

directors - 10X

the proletariat.

I get you.

Concurrence.

Marching visible -

   Championing the

striking, not just change

but retain.

Chatham-Kent 7. Particles, Time and Threads

Particles, Time and Threads

On the occasion of the Thames Art Gallery’s annual Juried Exhibition (November 6, 2015)

“Look at what is there,” Sky says;

what emigrates from the canvas:

charcoal, oil, ink;

carbon, nitrogen, atom.

They are ‘pedestrian’ in their

detail

until collectively colliding

and organically revealing,

materials in bloom,

flaunting their revelry.

They work as ‘hyper objects’,

forming, and re-forming

as rising fabrics

‘Banners’, boat

sails, fibrous

weave

shrouds of ‘origami’

‘pools’ by

beach blanket

napery.

We carry worlds

with us

through this

material experimentation

to conceive

photons linking our

‘equilibrium’ to

‘consciousness’.

Rotating the ‘super stratum’

of spectra.

Our Earth RPMs just once

but  

 45 rotations;

 1 minute

1 glimpse

1 glimmer

1 ribbon

of life

is caught and

revealed. Once: White.

Chatham-Kent 6. Essence Boreal

Essence Boreal

On the occasion of artist Lisa Marshall’s exhibit, “Boreal” (October 29, 2015)

This North48° is rich and fuzzy,

like a slice of well-aged gorgonzola

viens of blue and

wedges of soft leek

running through the solid

green frames of forest.

Panagapka is no Erie

no dirty Thames river for

Pakeshkag.

No these small pockets

are holy wells,

deep mosses tucked

within the arms of

the Anishnaabe eternal.

Spiky green leaves atop

a soft artichoke

centre,

reaching

for you to grab hold,

aborbing you in.

Here, you were born.

Here, you are.

SOQP

1.

Je cherche

Access.

a hierarchal foundation of

laws

policies

procedure –

the latter spawn

out of the former.

Who’s your fire call?

…your speed dial?

Professionals’

Acts

weave a fabric of

safe, positive spaces of learning,

threading, sewing,

knitting 52:2 past to Human

future

practice.

2.

In this lunch box of foods

we take out:

counsel and counseling;

icy-cold compliance (only if people aren’t pliable);

control to

carve out ‘best practice’

from Canada’s curriculum.

Crates of consistent

conditions.

Jars of policy sealed

with air-tight procedures

protecting pedagogy 2020.

No expulsion or suspension

without precedence.

(This poses problems

for pupils on the

progressive punishment continuum.)

A fiduciary Spring picnic with

BestInterests Board and BestInterests Students.

3.

You are cordially invited to

celebrate

the marriage

of

Sustantive Duty

&

Procedural Duty

in

SystemConsistency, ON

A reception will be held at

Negotiation Hall at the last minute.

Please RRSP #MitigatingFactors