Schoolhouse Lilies
Except when he was watching baseball, it seemed my father was always outdoors, tipping his hat to locals, watering the flowers that focused his retirement. A Yankees fan for more …
Read MoreDavid McGimpsey
Aw ya, cabelleros y caballeras, rancheros y rancheras, it’s time for a little polling data about everybody’s favourite subject: Canadian literature!
The luckiest character in CanLit has to be David from Earle Birney’s “David,” because David would be safely dead before having to read Earle Birney’s “David.” The most beloved character …
Read More A la mémoire de moi-meme et M. De Fenouillet et la burger «W» chez Wendy’s
Far from the Fina gas station of your youth, not teaching in that New England College dreamt of in grad school, walking Jean Talon, looking for a reasonable soup, you’re …
Read More Mon pays ce n’est pas un pays, c’est 100$ pour voir Bon Iver
Oddsmakers ask, what will happen sooner: will a Canadian team win the Stanley Cup, or will Canadians develop a new interest in the novels of Robertson Davies? The unmalled parts …
Read More As vast as the vastlands of this vast land, poet, are you to yonder skies,breads, and local cheeses
I am grateful for libraries (iPad) and poetry (iPad). Lorca’s line “La Clooney del bello Jorge sigue…” is where George Clooney got his stage name. Many tried to be the …
Read More Topped by a half-pound of maple bacon personally cured by all the members of Nickelback
The first great Canadian burger was made by Alberta poet Krane MacPherson, who always claimed his secret ingredient was the salty winter tears of a teacher. MacPherson died in a …
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What Was That Poem?
My mother asked me, What was that poem? It was Longfellow’s “My Lost Youth,” I think. The answer was Longfellow, often enough, even though she never liked Evangeline. I talked …
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My Second, Less Popular, and Even Less Critically Successful Canadian Novel
The woman at the little insurance company. Georgetown, Ontario. The description of exquisite unsaids. The turn will not take place in an Applebee’s parking lot. The male foil will perish …
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My Life as a Canadian Writer
My first short story, “The Provincial Fair,” was rejected twenty-five times before it found its home in The Muskoka Review. From then on it’s all been pretty easy. I learned …
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