For the 215 children found at Kamloops Residential School

Let us stand here and admit we have no road,
though what we say can cover truth
beneath the bitter ground this year—

the past itself disgraced by the ferocity of the new
edges curling with blasphemy and blame—
oppression which preceded history.

Vigilant in anguish and unattended grief,
my own heart and I catch my breath in pain,
now ululate in deep despair,

in deep apology,
lonely for something nameless as they had been
like shades of broken stars.

                        Cento gloss

                        Title: Olena Kalytiak Davis, “On the Certainty of Bryan” 

                        Line 1: William Empson, “Homage to The British Museum”

                        Line 2: Fred Cogswell, “Black and White” 

                        Line 3: Rebecca Seiferle, “The Catch

                        Line 4: Campbell McGrath,“Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool/The Founding of                         Brasilia (1950)” 

                        Line 5: Molly Peacock, “Blasphemy & Blame” 

                        Line 6: Richard Greene, “Independence” 

                        Line 7: Gloria Burgess, “Blessing the Lepers” 

                        Line 8: Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, “The Race”

                        Line 9: John Whitworth, “The Room under the Eaves” 

                        Line 10: E. J. Pratt, “Come Away, Death”

                        Line 11: Claudia Emerson, “Cyst” 

                        Line 12: Elliot Fried, “Daily I Fall in Love with Waitresses” 

(Each line drawn from individual centos published in Bricolage, A Gathering of Centos, by A. Garnett Weiss, Aeolus House, 2021.)

JC delighted in the opportunity to participate in this show of exceptional work by photographers who are members of the Heliconian Club in Toronto.

“I welcomed the chance to write ekphrastic poetry, poems inspired by other forms of artistic expression. I felt honoured that my poems were part of this show. Its opening reception included two sets of performances, readings, and artist commentary on Saturday afternoon, October 4. “

JC looks forward to participating in the 2026 photography show. 2026 marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Heliconian Club. Check the Club’s posts and website for the celebrations planned.

Just out and available online and in print is Art Ascent Art and Literature Journal’s glorious summer issue on the topic of water.

JC thanks the editors of this elegant publication for selecting her triptych, drawn from South Shore Suite…Poems (Point Petre Publishing). For this special edition of the journal, JC drew together sections from her 2017 collection which offers a series of poems informed by living on the South Shore of Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada.

“The Suite began as a commitment to write and post a line of poetry a day for a year. Given the privilege of living by the shore of this great lake in all seasons, much of the collection reflects how such a privilege brings life into a different focus,” JC explained.

Here’s a link to the issue where you can JC’s piece, paired with a Madeliene Sieffert painting, “home”: https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/3131519

It’s beyond timely to republish “Anthem,” JC’s poem, first was broadcast on CBC radio nationally on the program “Commentary.”

When thinking people cannot ignore how Canada and her democracy and related values are under assault everywhere and how many forces conspire to weaken the fragile balance that is civility, many others pay little heed. It’s as though they embrace a new mantra, a combo of “that can’t happen here” with”what do I care, anyway.” They do so without regard for the facts and the truth or the consequences of ignoring both.

Here’s JC’s poem which calls upon Canadians on the 158th anniversary of the country’s founding to smarten up, tune in, and step up to do his/her/their part for Canada and for democracy.

Anthem

 A Mountie sings the anthem

Fine baritone, scarlet tunic

The odd, stiff brown hat

I strain to hear the others –their singing jumbles off

high glass planes, transparent walls

I make out

Des plus brilliants

God keep

Glorious and free

I hear my voice, small in the great room

Oh Canada, we stand on guard 

I will the words to be true

Fear we are not up to it

Many of us don’t bother to vote

We squander our choices, our democracy

Grumble at leaders in power

almost by default

Our fault, really

Centred in everyday lives

Blind to the need to protect this country

Beautiful, fragile

We ought to know better

Know what to do for Canada each day

and in times of flood, plague, war, and fire

Should someone tell us

Should we ask

Or should we go out there

Start somewhere

Work not only for ourselves

but for our Canada

A half hour a day

times the forty-one+ million of us

(minus the sick, the too-young)

would sure buy a lot

of standing on guard

Season’s greetings!

JC welcomes feedback on her poems at this site. She just received these remarks from a careful reader of poems in Life, after life — from epitaph to epilogue:

“Hardly any poem could I pass without at the very least two reads…It’s a charge of depth and lightness. And the structures lend themselves to the contemplation of ephemeral lives in the context of the mystery of time, each with its wisp of complex experience.” EP, Montreal.

JC thanks EP for these discerning and positive comments.

From Life, after life, she offers this found poem in the hope readers will take up her call.

Splendid terms

 Make a toast to those you love,

to one-of-a-kind places that meant the most

right down to the lawn chair.

Recall one act of disobedience, rarely-made

mistakes, holy like a startled forest animal.

                 Sources: April 20, 2017, notices in remembrance of: Earl, Ernst, Rosalind, Phyllis, Irit, Thomas, Derek, and Sylvia; and obituary articles, “Edmonton star won six Grey Cups” by Allan Maki; “Songwriter Sylvia Moy helped Stevie Wonde find his sound,” by Richard Sandomir, New York Times News Service.

JC hosts a conversation with celebrated author CS Richardson at the main branch of the Prince Edward County library at 7:00 PM, Thursday, October 17, 2024 in Picton.

The evening will focus upon Richardson’s Giller short-listed novel, ALL THE COLOUR IN THE WORLD,  which JC promoted at the 2024 County Reads Debate.

“I have so many questions of my own to ask Scott Richardson about this gem of a novel, which I have now read for the third time and still could not put down,” JC explained.

The interactive discussion will give the audience an opportunity to speak directly with the author and to gain insight into how he comes to write his novels, each of which have attracted much attention and praise.

JC is one of 5 panellists who will face-off before a live audience in The County Reads debate, Thursday, April 18 at 7PM in Picton, Ontario.

On the eve of the annual Authors Festival, the event has a reputation for animated moments to uphold where each debater presents a Canadian title, published in the last 5 years, as THE one everyone in Prince Edward County should read. After the verbal fisticuffs, the audience votes by secret ballot, and the book of the year emerges.

Here is the link to the site of the Prince Edward County Library, organizer of the event:

And here is the link to story in this week’s Picton Gazette, penned by its publisher who happens to be one of the presenters.

“I am delighted to have been asked to take part in the debate. I chose All the Colour in the World, a finalist for the 2023 Giller Prize, because I could not put it down! And it’s not a whodunnit!” JC explained.

Tickets for The County Reads are available from Library branches in Prince Edward County as are passes to the Authors Festival on April 19-20.

I bring this forward and publish it each year in recognition of September 30 as national truth and reconciliation day.

This cento, written under my pen name A. Garnett Weiss, uses lines drawn unaltered apart from changes for the sake of punctuation from individual centos in my 2021 collection, Bricolage, A Gathering of Centos, a finalist for the 2022 Fred Kerner Book Award from the Canadian Authors Association.

                             

Let us stand here and admit we have no road,
though what we say can cover truth
beneath the bitter ground this year—

the past itself disgraced by the ferocity of the new
edges curling with blasphemy and blame—
oppression which preceded history.

Vigilant in anguish and unattended grief,
my own heart and I catch my breath in pain,
now ululate in deep despair,

in deep apology,
lonely for something, nameless as they had been
like shades of broken stars.

               Cento gloss

                Title: Olena Kalytiak Davis, “On the Certainty of Bryan”

                Line 1: William Empson, “Homage to The British Museum”

                Line 2: Fred Cogswell, “Black and White”

                Line 3: Susan Hahn, “January Ovaries”

                Line 4: Campbell McGrath, “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool/The Founding of Brasilia (1950)”

                 Line 5: Molly Peacock, “Blasphemy & Blame”

                 Line 6: Richard Greene, “Independence”

                 Line 7: Gloria Burgess, “Blessing the Lepers”

                 Line 8: Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill, “The Race”

                 Line 9: John Whitworth, “The Room under the Eaves”

                 Line 10: E. J. Pratt, “Come Away, Death”

                 Line 11: Claudia Emerson, “Cyst”

                 Line 12: Elliot Fried, “Daily I Fall in Love with Waitresses”