Gord Downie

-


 
Gord Downie  (1964-2017)

 

Memories lose form,

dissolve like sugar

and you can only cry

We reach beyond our skin

as if we can touch you

We never shared a word

but still we know you, and can feel

the pain that clogs your throat

Something grows inside you – that

smothers what you have shown the world

But you cannot be undone, obliterated, erased –

your words, your vision are eternal

Know that your soul is unassailable

and will endure the endless seasons

Stillness will be your voice

as grace and love embody the driving chords

The Hip – a man among them,

a father, a lover

How you gathered our country in your hands

and held us like eager children

We adore the one who falls down

and loses his pride, but stands taller than the rest

We never shared a word

but still you speak to us, and we listen

to the echoes of the Secret Path,

a flame you lit for us

Coke Machine Glow –

there’s fragrance before the storm
 


 








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dominion of Mercy - The Voice

-
Image
  The world needs strong feminine voices. My mother was a strong woman, as was her mother, my grandmother. As three of my grandparents were from Scotland, it is the only immigrant story that I can tell with some certainty. There my story begins, Edinburgh - 1917, and Mary Stewart, a force of nature, embarks on epic journey that will take all her courage, strength and wit. And the destination, something I know as well. The town of Anyox, British Columbia, the perfect setting. I remember as a boy, my father telling me that his father was sent to Anyox to work in the copper smelter in 1916. Anyox was located on the north coast near the BC/Alaskan border deep down Observatory Inlet. Nothing is left of the town now except an emerging forest and towering stacks from the smelter. I wanted to bring it back to life. That was exciting, to breathe new life into the plank streets. It was a short-lived company town of 3000 residents. A robust community that enjoyed a certain affluence from 1914...
Read more

Understanding the title of my new novel - The Sum of One Man's Pleasure

-
Image
 In my interview with Sheila Pratt, I was asked what The Sum of One Man's Pleasure meant, what informed me to create such a title. As a book title has great weight, and a certain mystery behind it, I wanted something compelling, and provocative. But I found the title in an unlikely spot, in one of Roderick Haig-Brown's celebrated books, A River Never Sleeps. Haig-Brown was a magistrate in Campbell River BC., but more recognized for his books on fishing, and for his views on conservation and environmental protection. His writing was one of my greatest early influences. Haig-Brown wrote eloquently of the rivers he fished, the mood, such as the heavy water of November. The feel of water against his legs, the power of it, the companionship of fellow fishermen, a bright fish, and life along the river. It's smells, and the texture of the woods, the earthy aromas. He called such things fishermen's pleasures. They are sensory pleasures, something the romantic in me can identify...
Read more

The Fuse of Fiction

-
Image
 An idea arises, perhaps from a sketchbook of ideas in your head, yes, snippets of thought, inspiration from an article you read, a television news story, real life experiences that includes your own, historical records, and, of course,  information from the  creative Universe.   So, ideas come from many sources. There is never one way to create a story. It is an intimately personal affair. I can only give one view of it all - from my own writing journey, what I have learned after more than twenty novels. A great catologue, you might think, but only six have been published. The other novels, I can reflect now, are where I learned to write well. I am always open to where the next novel comes from. I ask the Universe for a story, something important, what the world  needs to hear. Sounds a bit self-righteous, I know, but I want my 900 hours of work to be worthwhile, that I learned something important, that it contributes to a better understanding of human end...
Read more