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Audre Lourde I have been a man for a short time beware my hands, I know love Lessons My father’s lessons fell to my bare feet like rain on my back my childhood impermeable Paranoia, his morning, and all it seeks to extinguish This bright white light welcomed me into the world, my mother’s inheritance. I shaped their hands, this body of clay read the furnace at my feet, there is no…
Bottle Rocket How could something so small and rather unassuming reach beyond the stars in only a matter of seconds? It’s only a mystery to those who’ve never been shaken and forced to hold it all in. Contours of the thing At times it’s like this Under a sterile lamp dressed by a shower of points. I share a few moving words while you keep still. Never shy to ink or permanence when…
Teachers It seems unjust maybe even cruel that god could grant life and leave us illiterate Who has taught me more about being alive than those who could say what it was like But He gave us enough between the root and the bark to get it out And get it across My Final Offer Just a few more tears Then a few more Then a few more My Fortunes The bag I carry is often a pillow to keep my neck high.…
No Better Sound the softest bed I ever laid like my mind, was never made some tangled ends, a finger’s tip life could find no better grip that work of yours’ a mystery how restless days pass blissfully please come to me each afternoon so I may hold a proper tune to sing a feeling longer held the sound of trees we never felled you watch for love invisibly and by the pound my flesh is…
It’s All So Terribly Vivid At some particular point castrated by the glass ceiling fixture my eyes gave up. in this unremarkable darkness my anticipation is voiced by a car crash not some anxious dream but a local drunk who got too wet at 2:53 AM At some particular point this rare bird embarrasses us both with his three point turn, his rush to escape is a familiar trial to those who live in…
This is a poem Close enough to saying nothing so the reader knows before you do. I Want to Learn Chinese I pass between ancient characters and modern ones too. They arrange a bridge across my perverted expression. It could be mixed metaphors or dad jokes but The Feeling reveals itself eventually. Nothing I know was taught by any formal means. If I studied by monks what else could I learn that this…
At times it’s like this With my hands cupped beneath a single cloud Assembled by coincidence I rather them wet than empty At times it’s like this With my wings folded below the deliberate trees Down here, I can still catch bugs I can still do something At times it’s like this With my eyes sunk and the music gone and no good answer to everyone’s worry. “Will you be okay?”…
Silence is the page sifted for Ondaatje or Cohen who could give voice to harsh sensations one may push through. A million pages fall between the couch cushions A million more to go At least the canopy is warm and the lights keep his voice wet There was a concert hall this boy played inside a hall for any parent who wanted to know what children sound like. Those same sounds fill his skin every…
Reflections Reflecting on a life I passed through for free At the very end, you try and describe it The vision comes in whole but delivered in words lets all light pass then return When the end reaches out, I tear off a piece and leave it on the page so that I may live. If you happen across one of my pieces and it fits you well I hope you keep it so that you may live too. At the same rate He is…
beaux rêves A spirit of stone unripe and unmoving a corpse of Magellan alone and marooned I wish and I sorrow I want and I worry I sucked out the marrow but tomorrow’s still coming The station in Heaven claims many a sons an engineer in wasting my ticket is punched Collapse on a sofa its age starts with one the cushions refurbished the backs come undone I stare at the ceiling she came from…
I love going to the pharmacy. Everything you could possibly need to soothe (or exacerbate) any and all anxieties can be found in a tiny bottle at the pharmacy. My love for the pharmacy started with a headache. I hate having to cut my adventures short while out and about in the city because of a headache, so I went to pharmacy and looked for some Aspirin to keep with me at all times. I found a tiny…
It’s the first night of the year. I was outside earlier, the heavy snowfall was trying my balance on every step, but the white squall provides the perfect canvas for the street-side Christmas lights to make the sky glow. I’m inside now, warm and bundled in the blanket my mother knit for me. I’m winding down for the night, drinking a hot cup of chamomile tea and reading. The words…
“You’re brave to be out on the bike today!” A stranger calls out to me. I turn towards the wind to see a black figure, wrapped in a heavy winter jacket, his distinguished face peeks out just above the rim of his hood. Muffled by the desperate wind, his voice is tough to make out but with weather like this, what else would he be saying? It’s hard to believe that yesterday I…
I’d forgotten how good it feels. Everything that happened in the last 12 hours, since I was last on my bike, now vanishing behind me as I roll down rue Marie-Anne. Riding this street in the summer was endless. The sun controlled my every limb, each ray a string that could make me dance for hours. Oh, how we could dance. The sky is black now. It’s black when I leave, it’s black…
Dukana is bringing the flavour of the Levant to Laurier With a bit of old world magic, this ineffable little sandwich shop is feeding the body, mind, and spirit. If it wasn’t for the portrait of their endearing mascot hanging proudly above the sidewalk, you may not have even noticed them. But those who do notice, often ask about the goat. “I fell in love with them.” Ali tells me.…
My hands are consumed by the feeling of molten rock, rolling below my fingertips. I flick away another set of ashes, each flick faster and more precise than the last as the warmth of my cigarette finally reaches the surface of my skin, dissolving my blood, and setting everything in motion. The cracks along my lips are filled by the moisture of my breath, then dried out once more as I take another…
Spun A clear water must first be still. But waiting for silence will only make you ill. A violence in equal mesure, inverted like a drill is the only way to treasure a life designed to thrill. Eve The son has melted. The garden’s not far behind. A crows picked every bone but ribs can heal with time. The Match (to strike) My train is late, do you have the time? The ghost speaks up, looking out of…
Today I went to a book launch party with my friend, Christophe. This was our second time going to a lancement together and it’s becoming a fun ritual. I was just getting home from work when I received a text from Christophe. “Hey buddy, there’s another book launch tonight. Wanna go?” He asks. “Yup! Just got home, I’ll meet you there in a few minutes.” By…
I’ve been planning this journey for months now and today is the day that I finally get to do it. Each step, having already been meticulously crafted, will now be put to the test to ensure I make it to my destination both on time and in one piece (psychologically speaking). I would not consider myself a planner , just writing the word makes me shudder, but my inability to plan has certainly…
I’ve always been one to live light. Not that I’m some kind of enlightened Buddhist, transcending the desire for material pleasures, but I don’t tend to carry things with me for long. As a teenager, when I first got into computers, I would always be buying new parts and selling the old ones. “I can’t wait to buy this from you for half price.” My friend would tell…
Day two of my Toronto vacation and I’m growing sick of seeing the same tall buildings with the same three businesses below them. If you see an Orange Theory Fitness in your neighbourhood, I’m sorry to break it to you but you don’t live in a real neighbourhood. Luckily, Toronto has a pretty wide network for bike sharing so getting to neighbourhoods that are underserved by public…
This will be the third entry in Zine #1. One night, Andrew was driving us home from class when he felt a sudden shift in his car. “Something’s up” he says, pulling us over and onto the highway shoulder. A car is kind of like your body, when something really goes wrong, you feel it. Julien gets out from the passenger’s seat and walks to the wheel well nearest him. “The…
This post is a revision to a previous essay of the same name. This revision will be included in Zine #1. I’m sitting impatiently on this bail of hay, watching the trees pass. My make-shift bench is secured to the inside of a flat-bed being towed by a large green tractor. I see my mother is seated next to me, she’s laser focused on my brother, hoping he doesn’t jump out. We share…
This post is a revision to a previous essay titled “Bridge to Somewhere”. This revision will be included in Zine #1. I drove over the Jaques-Cartier bridge for the first time a couple weeks ago and it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life. There are several bridges from the south shore (where I live) to the island of Montréal but I’ve yet to cross Le Pont…
I’m watching the film The Wild Goose Lake by Diao Yi-nan and there’s a scene about halfway through the that really struck me (this is not really a spoiler). The protagonist while on the lam, is hiding in a tent. This tent houses a women who has only her head visible inside a large box. The protag, perhaps realizing he can use her as a distraction, puts money in the jar next to her for…
I’m standing at the corner of Sherbrooke and De Lorimier. I’m basking in the sun’s warm evening glow for the last time before the autumn chill sets in. Unlike rainwater, wealth seems to run uphill at Le Plateau Mont-Royale . As you get farther from the mountain, those Shop Santés turns into dépanneurs and Bixi bike stations are replaced with rusted Schwins strewn across the…
I sit patiently on a bail of hay, secured to the inside of a flat-bed being towed at 15 miles per hour. I watch as the four other families sharing this ride with me bounce around like loose change. It’s 30 degrees outside and the Germantown air has turned me into a sticky gross slop. I get a whiff of the putrid bovine byproduct that makes this whole affair possible and I cringe. My…
What makes a happy ending so undesirable? Specifically the kind of happy ending you get when characters in a piece of media resolve their differences by holding hands and singing Kumbaya. It’s leaves you with a terrible taste in your mouth, not because you hate yourself or the world, but because in this life there are no happy endings. At least not the kind you can find in a 90min runtime.…
I drove over the Jaques-Cartier bridge for the first time a couple weeks ago and it may have been one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen in my life. I arrived at the bridge from the south shore and made my way to the on-ramp. The exit comes just before the end of the road which forks at the horizon. The turn-off is tight and you’re pulled from the ground and into the air like…
The dream is a beautiful thing. No one knows why we dream, at least not for sure. Some say to wash away the dirt. The dirt picked up by a mind that travels in a barren land. Others say it’s to organize. To organise all the big things and all the little things this mind collects (or is thrust upon ones mind). And its in the dream than one can just get away from it all. Dreams serve the mind.…
I have a memory. It’s a memory stored so deep, it’s hard to tell if it’s a memory at all. It’s a memory I made, for the sake of memory. A memory, for the sake of memory. I’m reminded of this memory because I’ve been thinking alot about where I am and how I got here. I think I have a hard time being present and so memories can be hard to come by for me. So every…
I like to do things fast. Well, not so much as fast but without delay. I can’t sit in a car that isn’t moving. My two main forms of transportation are running and cycling. When I get home after working out, I like to have things cook while I’m in the shower. Now that I’m without my wonderful bicycle, I’m forced to slow down and walk. Now I recognize that this sounds…
I’m notoriously bad at finishing projects. The stages of my life could probably be demarkated by these unfinished jobs. Trying to build a computer case out of wood, trying to paint my car, trying to make music, trying to make advertisments. Perhaps I just have too much enthusiasm when finding new “passions”. The romance of becoming a master at a new discipline moves me to start…
Rain really is the perfect excuse isn’t it? We can call anything on account of rain. Sorry Timmy, soccer’s canceled on account of rain. We even have a phrase to both convey that we want to cancel our plans on account of rain and pose the idea of rescheduling in only two words, rain check . Why does the rain keep us from doing so many things? We have umbrellas, we have the technology to…
There is nothing left to build, nothing left to code, nothing left to found, create, develop, teach, donate, to this world in the domain of the technological. I have become convinced after being in the technology space for many years, that there is no problem technology can solve alone. Our problems are deeply human and require social change. People who are not read on formal politics tend to…
I took the metro, here in Montreal, for the first time last week. It’s not often I get to use the word “enamoured” but I was, in fact, enamoured. All I could think about was how much smaller the city felt now that I could get around at break-neck speeds. Although I’ve been in the city for several months, what pushed me to start taking the metro was injury. I’ve…
There’s two things I think you need to produce a creative or artistic venture. Passion Focus The passion is the spark that starts the ideation process, it fuels your creativity and excitement for the desired end goal. While passion is necessary, it alone is not sufficient. Focus is required to execute the idea and to ensure it reaches any end state. All passion and no focus leads to a garden…
Engineers Canada is the governing body for all engineering regulators in Canada. Their job is to provide guidelines for conduct and policy but not to enforce them. The provincial/territorial regulators are not required to adhere to the regulatory guidance produced by Engineers Canada although many provincial policy documents follow them generally. Engineers Canada is however responsible for the…
The humble wheel. Arguably one of mankind’s best inventions, but for humans, the “best” is just a placeholder. A temporary title we bestow while we search for something better. One day someone thought, “wow this is great, what if we had two of them” and just like that, the bicycle was born. I started thinking about the bike because I was getting frustrated with…
Tim Ferris is an incredibly succesful author, investor, health and fitness expert, and an all around “guy who has his shit together”. But with all this success, he cannot escape the cards he was dealt on the top of his head. The man is balding. Now there is nothing wrong with being bald. I am not just bringing up the fact that he is bald because I find it funny (J.K. Simmons is bald…
Introduction This write up will explain what many of the key components of a distro are and how they work. Each component will be introduced in a chronological fashion, according to when they would be started on your computer. While I might have to deviate from this style on occasion, I’ll try my best to keep things orderly and concise. I chose to do this write up in chronological order…
To be assembled after delivery You could look down the street and see people so many fucking people who believed in tomorrow they had watches and friends who stared at the sun to tell them how it would happen but most importantly you had people who stared at other people to tell them that it would Acupuncture I am laying on the table With needles in my ears There’s not much that comes to me Other…