freedomforalarm

the lumberman

2010-01-23T10:25:00.003-08:00

it’s winter down some back-road just

north of Quesnel, with steady hands

a lumberman falls another tree.

with this wood he longs to build

a house, to warm it, stand upon its roof

and know the strength beneath him,

shape a cane for when his back

has weakened, a chair to sit in,

a table to work from. he hopes

to carve a birdhouse from the

smooth heartwood of these trees,

whittle a family in perfect proportions,

toys for the children, a night stand

for a wife. he thinks of his father

while limbing the wood by hand.

Nessy

2009-06-18T19:05:00.003-07:00

moving through landscape as though we knew
the pathways,
the folds and angles of cities,
tiring mountain passes and salty lowlands,
the in-betweens’ and those stories less-traveled

haying / 1966

2009-04-15T09:59:00.003-07:00

forearms red, puffed at th hand
hay swung
flatbed at 1/3
th sun beatin' us down
till its done
th truck got no plates / no tunes
one in each hand, if
you're doin' it proper
setback at th next stop
th boys is strong as fuck
moose skin tied with bailertwian
on th back seat
diesel smoke black as crow

Part 5) advice as an end to itself:

2008-12-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

assimilation -
is chain and teeth,
still spinning.

Part 4) no place for you here:

2008-12-04T07:35:00.001-08:00

at times, a well disguised birch
will slip in among the pine,
take the dirt road
back to the city.

try to live the good life
amidst the cracks
and hustle-bustle.

Part 3) displaced (burning):

2008-12-04T07:30:00.002-08:00

along with the fallen, the unwanted.

those which get in the way,
birch and poplar mostly -
if said to have a milled value
of less then the cost to get’em out -
stay behind.
eventually meeting the same fate
as all the other
inconvenient trees.

Part 2) the fallen trees:

2008-12-04T07:27:00.001-08:00

having never been exposed
to a full, blustering wind
these trees are ill-equipped
to face the coming storms.

they won’t be trucked or milled, these trees …
they will be stacked and burned -
when the ground is hard and the adjacent stumpage
is padded with snow.

Part 1) and if i had his compassion:

2008-12-04T07:24:00.001-08:00

a northern cutblock,
nestled into folds of old growth tree-line.
taught and rearing this place
is separated from the hustle-bustle
of city life by mountains,
by policy and intent, intenders
hell-bent.

here the tailings of last winter
still linger. holding on,
the newly exposed timber
pushes against the wind,
pulling at the knurled roots below.
heaving the boreal landscape
inward.

2008-12-03T08:26:00.006-08:00

Falls - Cape Breton Island

2008-11-20T14:56:00.001-08:00

Mother Mary - New Brunswick

2008-11-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

From Field - Nova Scotia

2008-11-20T14:53:00.000-08:00

Rural Nova Scotia

2008-11-20T14:51:00.001-08:00

Coastline - Cape Breton Island

2008-11-20T14:49:00.000-08:00

Done For the Season - Cape Breton Island

2008-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

Confederation - New Brunswick side

2008-11-20T14:46:00.001-08:00

Parade of Lights - Halifax

2008-11-20T14:45:00.000-08:00

Light Snow - Cape Breton Island

2008-11-20T14:44:00.000-08:00

Light - Cape Breton Island

2008-11-20T14:41:00.001-08:00

Sparks - Cape Breton Island

2008-11-20T14:39:00.001-08:00

From The Other Side - Old Montreal

2008-11-20T14:38:00.001-08:00

Charlottetown

2008-11-20T14:35:00.001-08:00

Boarded Up - Toronto

2008-11-20T14:32:00.001-08:00

Warn

2008-11-20T14:30:00.001-08:00

Warm

2008-11-20T14:29:00.000-08:00

Old Quebec City

2008-11-20T14:27:00.000-08:00

Steps - Montreal

2008-11-20T14:25:00.001-08:00

Rideau Canal

2008-11-20T14:24:00.001-08:00

Rideau Canal near Kingston

2008-11-20T14:22:00.001-08:00

2008-11-12T16:54:00.001-08:00

soon

a view

2007-03-04T20:18:00.000-08:00

shine on

2007-03-04T20:16:00.000-08:00

winter waves

2007-03-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

snow ghosts

2007-03-04T20:13:00.000-08:00

from east peak

2007-03-04T20:12:00.000-08:00

up there

2007-03-04T20:07:00.000-08:00

homely

2007-02-13T00:43:00.000-08:00

hard to notice

people passing you by

from there, amid the cracks

and bubble gum concrete

extending from big-box store

to revolving door, weaving corner

to corner convenience

the drone, a buzz of footstep sounds

like pounding the city down

a few more feet

and candidly

hoping the cracks blend in

more than you do

sidewalking

2007-02-13T00:41:00.000-08:00

street dweller mixes well with others

preconceptionormalcy

les paul

2007-02-09T17:04:00.000-08:00

as taxi by

2007-02-09T16:59:00.000-08:00

sway a chill back

into the 2am

here was this

settling like gold

modest tongues make

little eyes flurry

and black sheep

blend in

to morrow

sexualgia

2007-02-07T00:28:00.000-08:00

sex at 21

hardly

lets me be

honest

new thing

2007-02-07T00:12:00.000-08:00

that engine drove itself all the way down

a mischievous engagement with some mechanic’s wife

dial buzzing Ricky-Rick’s Slick Sounds of the Sixties

air conditioner cranked and layin’ it on

her hair taut, in a hairclip or barbed wire

casually hanging off a 52’ Pontiac

jeans torn high, smudges and kisses

curly red curvy and willing to try new things

she could lay it on like paint

a brown leather bag exchanges trunks

she is leaving him for the electric car

hide some thing new

2007-02-05T00:19:00.000-08:00

hiding in side

2007-02-05T00:17:00.000-08:00

shooting

2007-02-05T00:13:00.000-08:00

i would play a cord

2007-02-05T00:11:00.000-08:00

sambuca

2007-02-05T00:08:00.000-08:00

back in 73

2007-02-04T23:59:00.000-08:00

hanging tree

2007-02-04T23:56:00.000-08:00

dreams

2006-11-25T19:17:00.000-08:00

and it was

2006-11-25T01:31:00.000-08:00

you are the three circles

dissolving into square and

slight of hand magic

dazes then undoes

mind fucks

me back into the shape

and shades

that used to fit.

you dilate

shrink backward spin and

let it hang for one

second too long.

take it like the last time

stay proceeded please

or was it the other way around

in me.

Much to Sea

2006-11-22T17:40:00.000-08:00

when I look to the sea I see otters that never got the chance to shoot back I see among the fish and whales disappearing acts of grandeur the big ships moving into deeper water yet, to scrape and pull treasures for consumption I see red lines swirling and winding for hundreds of miles black patches where nothing can go or grow through the murk sewage lines linking I see the water rising and cities floating out

I, Commi.

2006-11-21T23:59:00.000-08:00

playing with music

2006-11-21T23:56:00.000-08:00

Insomniaddict

2006-11-21T23:53:00.000-08:00

what time was it when

we knew it was

in our hands

and it always was.

squeezed dry

out and in-between

ink jet fingers, at the

wee hours of slowly

drawn, wind bent, mornings.

leaf us alone, now

2006-11-02T01:21:00.000-08:00

5 letter T's right?

2006-11-02T01:14:00.000-08:00

alonely

2006-11-02T01:12:00.000-08:00

2006-11-02T00:47:00.000-08:00

Another Day

2006-11-02T00:43:00.000-08:00

depth

2006-10-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

The Paper Mull

2006-10-25T15:13:00.000-07:00

animal acronym for our own good

birds are burning aside

clouds that are created creative billowing

taking holidays, rather than taking to the streets

essential components are the woman, here

consider yourself moving, before it digests you

when the Japanese come to negotiate, we fly the red sun, doing the same for Americans is not a given.

reading is work, for others a vise

it is someone’s job to watch the flies

statistics show, you’re a statistic and a problem

the Cariboo or

steam plant alarm may send you scurrying, after yourself

keys to doors that don’t exist are nevertheless key

read this on, in the comfort of knowing, we carry the burden

minority employees down 25% from four to three, ‘it’s a vital improvement’

neck ties seem cross-cultural, so do name tags

june 4^th, 1989 - the incident is named after the location of the movement, in Tiananmen Square. figures ranging from 200–300 (government estimate), to 2,000–3,000 (Chinese Red Cross estimate)

indefinite

a vigorous reassessment of the “scare tactic” method

the infrastructure crumbles at the mere slight of our hands

negative factors of the melt down: 120 miles wide

feel it in your lungs, ablaze

the book is, made of paper, lurking

24/7 – 365, through and through

Digester cooking temperature hits 165˚C

the Fraser is a pump line, not a river

female employees up 50% from two to three, but their pay is the same

primary clarification

the view, inspired millions when the lights go down

animal rights activists scorn the misleading names company

sunsets are prettier remembered

he was a union man, before he turned the page

shifting under the florescent lights make nervous flies

secondary biological treatment (7 days)

steam like veins pop and defect

‘the ecological impact is still unclear but we are certain that everything out there is doing fine now’

total mill employees: 333

revolutions are in part riots and smog

your alarmed action is instinctively yours

safety is the number one concern after profit, clearly

you comes first

paper looks better on a salmon, but there are none

using, without being wholly obvious, a local species in the company name will attach environmental connotation

lift the impact with your knees to avoid straining your back

practical functions are for ______

write the paperback before it writes you

the union was left to bleed out

twelve hours sitting on a raised platform, it’s your job to remove individual sheets if one fly drops

locks are not locks without

cohesion in its simplest

tallest building in the city: Digester Tower

Intuition tells us: “Recent health and medical studies have shown that PM10 and PM25 articles (either themselves or in combination with other air pollutants) may have extensive and serious human health impacts. These health effects include such things as premature death, increased hospital visits, worsening respiratory symptoms and disease,

and decreased lung function”

the animals check their books and find no protection from misusing names

bridging over the melted

letting the power back

right the paper back before it rights you

in Beijing the sun will not burn

the Japanese will be offended if a fly is spotted inside the paper

there was a time we would take to the streets

the fact is, slowly falling asleep

the Cariboo Pulp & Paper Company down …

and this, is the product of our actions

the B spot

2006-10-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

here, it’s a stream of intake – words that are not language but sequential metaphors for things which lack – and it’s not something the trees can blow back into the nook of your lobe – but the images hang – inscribed by plight andor awe that takes us andor tiny monsters with inkjet fingers andor seeing the stereotype that kills you andor casting lines, setting traps, swinging with intention andor taking back the sense of agency andor throwing ourselves at one another until we crash like fusion fish in a bowl andor etching our names - contextualized - into history andor finding the smoothness that lets us be andor waking up and writing it down

red trees

2006-10-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

77 jewel

2006-10-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

2006-10-16T12:24:00.000-07:00

i'm watching feet
from the sidewalk
pass by

spare me
for an object
your change, sir

look to the streets
for the city
you see

song for music

2006-10-15T22:41:00.000-07:00

pop the bass

line cord slap

a rhythm pulled

spun off fingers

a measured silence

into sound mosaic

(i stood there dancing

it moved me)

such a note, a beam, waving

restless through the air

it spoke

in movement, shifting

sullen vibrations, over

cyclic pitches, a

tone

words about difference

strewn with abandon

makes us think, gesture

get angry, move mail boxes

dash out of answers

still thinking

this sound

as median

a combination of

makeshift, folk filtered

fast fusion imagery

postmodern, un-order

indie message melody

new noise, novafunk

art

(and this too moves me)

RIDE-

2006-10-15T22:37:00.000-07:00

homefront

2006-10-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

ok, i’ll tell you where i live but

don’t come seething: stretched cross them

blankets traded fur for smallpox:

smallbox

to live in

these parts partial to dollar signs

dinners wrapped in tinfoil-n-trees quick

look! last chance save tomorrow to see

some thing profound

natural, illuminate

by the sun then them moon stars:

not no, not none of them no, them fake

lights that inebriate this city

when the trees go down

transfixed fictions of some better

brick and chloroform

plastic handy little sub / division

revisions – public waste

where methane shadows take

cover in the cracks

the veins

the sense of agency

rivers run dank shit smell red

your wrist

if you cut it

fuck it – not where you live

i remember when: buffalo

on the cutbanks

moose herds on Queensway left

droppings to dodge

smiles at the prospect

their a dime a dozen ( them people

herds ( out to the fringe

industry

back to the metropolitan off city centre

parking lot smell of revolution

everybody’s got a secret

ours is a stench

think back, like a microwave in reverse, when

these streets were trails – stories were spoken

stink was a quality – selling out wasn’t an option

home was everywhere

them city / in fluoresces

them fucking reservations

hold out this place in your hand

offer up – then withdraw

squeeze

ink out

till the map

no longer carries names

or direction

both hands in the melting pot

the transit derails someday

heading south: past them red trees

(insufficient sub zero

(winters:

nostalgia – astringency for

the season

passing on in silence

picks-up some autonomy and

returns home with a belly

full:

of Pacific salmon

here, we are voices muffled

over-exaggerated / agitated assailant

hushed in

by big trucks

pinch-point chip-belts

beehive burners and smoke stacks

band saw teeth

gas alarms

sirens vibrate / pulsate from

the frame of this basin

tire rubber with engine brakes

fakes

gunshots and silent alarms

/ fallen woodland

agricultural wasteland

snow on its tip toes

adolescent acid rain and

abandoned street corners /

the voices here

a configuration of nerve endings

that blitz

tiny impulse sells

shifting – switching and

absent

seasonal depression stalks

like Monday morning and

all that there over

consumption

– even the blackbird leaves us

come winter…

setting on A

2006-10-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

MOON BURN

2006-10-15T21:50:00.000-07:00