Scriber
Hours have turned pale and he’s found stooped
over the unthankful table.
The sun slides in through the open window
and plays onto the opposite wall
folding my chest I search for my breath
in the dust of my papers.
A thousand sounds life vibrates sweetly
in the freedom of the street
I’m exhausted, my eyes and mind are blurry
yet I still write.
I know of two sunlit lilies in a vase next to me
as if they’ve sprung up from a grave.
excerpt
the idea of us going so we can check on how Ibrahim is doing. Hakim is afraid the
old man may get sick and not tell him until too late.”
Emily sits next to him and hugs him. She kisses his lips and feels all warmed up.
“For a while, I thought Hakim makes all your decisions for you. I had it
wrong; I’m sorry.”
He laughs, stretches his arms and hugs her; his hands caress her hot body.
He’s in a great mood.
“It’s exactly the opposite, my love. He’s the one who always asks for my
advice. Don’t forget Uncle Ibrahim relies on me to make sure Hakim is safe and
secure in whatever he does here.”
“You mean you keep an eye on him, like spying?”
“Not spying, sweetheart. I keep an eye on him to make sure he’s alright. There is
a difference between the two,” he answers, as his hand goes deep between her legs.
She turns her head and kisses him again while, at the same time, she makes
herself more available by opening her legs a bit; he takes the opportunity to slide
his fingers over her and feels her hair. She goes wild with his touch; her breathing
becomes faster.
“In other words, you play the role of guardian angel?”
“Yes, sweet Emily.”
Tuesday morning as Peter Bradshaw gets to the office and notices hardly any of
the other staff are in. He turns the coffeemaker on in the lunchroom and as he
waits for the coffee to brew, he hears another person come in. He sees Lorne
walking to his office. A couple of minutes later, Lorne comes into the lunchroom,
looking for fresh coffee.
“Good morning, Peter.”
“Good morning, Lorne.”
“How is it going? I saw you guys yesterday coming back from lunch; do you
go for lunch together often?”
“We go sometimes.”
“Anything I should know, Peter? Something I should be concerned about?”
he asks.
Peter understands that Lorne has his suspicions, but he certainly wouldn’t
know what happened yesterday.
“Nothing to be concerned with Lorne; we talked about everyday things,
nothing important.”
“Okay, then,” says Lorne, and then he adds, “If something I should be
concerned with comes up, will you tell me, Peter?”
excerpt
Tunnel Vision
I WAS UP BEFORE DAWN, excited, but my sense of adventure was shaded by vague misgivings. There had been something in Buster’s voice I couldn’t quite identify, something everyone else understood, and their knowing smiles had made me uncomfortable.
I shrugged off the memory, slipped out of my pyjamas which I left in a pile on the floor, dressed quickly in a tee shirt, jeans, Keds sneakers, a Yankees baseball cap, and tip-toed down to the first floor kitchen. It was still cold, even on an August Saturday, and I shivered as I wolfed down my corn flakes with milk and fresh figs from the beloved tree in Z’Andonio’s next door garden. I left the dish and spoon in the sink and walked out into a brisk morning, sunlight just beginning to gain strength above the houses and trees.
An hour later I was crouched at the edge of a drainage ditch under the railroad bridge behind number five park. I had drifted off, imagining fish in the murky, slow moving water by the time they started to show up in twos and threes. They raised a hand or nodded or mumbled hi, but that was their only attempt at communication before they wandered off to sit by themselves.
Buster arrived around nine. He was Skinhead’s cousin. He’d come to stay with the Whalens for the summer and he hadn’t been on the block for more than a few hours before he’d organized everyone into a gang he called The Blue Damons. He meant Daemons, but I didn’t correct him when he called out to me as I sat on my front porch reading a Zane Grey western, and invited me to join them. My initiation was scheduled, he said, for Saturday morning, at dawn. I wanted to suggest high noon, but didn’t think he’d get it, so I said okay and went back to my book. It wasn’t dawn, or high noon either, but it was time. They all stood and walked over to meet him. I stayed where I was and just waited. After a brief exchange of low murmurs and a burst of laughter, Buster disengaged himself and came strutting through the criss-crossed shadows of the bridge.
“Did ya know dis is yer lucky day?”
excerpt
“Oh yeah, Grandma Milligan rang. Said she’ll call you later.” She
swung around to face Tyne. “Is there any mail? Anything from Pa?”
“No, I’m afraid not, honey.”
Rachael shrugged. “Yeah well, I guess he’s more interested in his
new family now.”
Tyne walked over to the girl and put her arm around her. “Oh
Rachael, I’m sure that’s not the case. He’s likely busy getting them
settled, as well as going to work every day in the railway yard.”
“I know, Mom, but he used to write at least every two weeks before
he married that woman and took her kids on as well.”
Tyne frowned and withdrew her arm, but kept her voice gentle.
“Rachael, Margaret has a name. Please don’t refer to her as that
woman. She seemed very nice when we met her, and I’m sure she’s
going to make your pa happy. Don’t begrudge him that.”
Rachael sighed. “Okay, I’m sorry.” She hesitated, then blurted,
“Mom, can I go to Lyssa’s tonight after supper? She said she’ll come
pick me up.”
Tyne’s eyebrows drew together. “You were there just two nights
ago, honey. Is there something special planned for tonight?”
Rachael shrugged. “Naw, just hanging and listening to records, I
guess. Please, Mom. It’s Saturday night. Lark’ll be there, too.”
“What about your Aunt Ruby? Will she be at home?”
Rachael hesitated. “I … don’t know … that is, I don’t think so. So
Lyssa says we can have the house to ourselves and play the record
player as loud as we like.”
Tyne took a deep breath. Should she give Rachael permission to
go to the Harrisons’ when there were no adults at home? Although
Lyssa considered herself an adult, Tyne would be far happier giving
Rachael permission to spend an evening with fifteen-year-old Lark
than with the precocious eighteen-year-old sister.
“Mom?”
“We’ll ask your dad when he comes in from the barn. If he says it’s
okay, then you can go. But I want you home by half past ten.
Swirl
Your words arrive swirling
dangle from my eardrums
like notes from sky
of honey
as the bee swims emotion cascades
and ascends like child’s play
in trampoline ripple and soothe
the breeze song between petals
your words
a simple iamb
old syllables are
hills and valleys in the countryside
coming and going
gifting me with charms
Painters and their Landscapes
I, The student of Konstantine Parthenis
Nikos Engonopoulos
if you wish to copy El Greco
focus your mind
on the Cretan mountains
II “Le Fils de L’ Ingenieur”
Georgio de Chirico
if you wish to copy
Giorgio de Chirico
don’t forget
the shores of Thessaly
On the child’s bed pillow shining shells
in his sleep azure voices of the ocean
the Sirens with lyres made of fish bones
Oh Goddess of the distant island
if the stalactites hymn the sleep of
pale serenity in your pelagic lair
and if your gleaming breast contends
the blue circle of starry sea
and if it is a blond crown of honeybees
around the fountain where light pierces imperceptibly
scenting shadows of all-great trees –
you know the crafty Odysseus will leave
Laertis will wait in vain
with his dog above a rock
As He appeared naked from the sea
golden from the dawn water
with his erected phallus depicted in the sun’s cornice
Nausica and the awestricken virgin girls hid
behind the trees
their naked soles vacillating
a crowd of doves made of white light
fluttered over the green reflection of grass
…Out in the sunshine close to the sea
our evening table is austere
Spring-moistened wheat bread in wine
the moon secretly drew scenes
from Troy onto
the Hellenic clay pitchers
Mother you knew that we would leave
and you salted our supper with tears
stooping and sad under the stars
and on the island shelves the girls who
got engaged to Odysseus sighed
excerpt
the process. Then she went to the bathroom and emerged a moment
later looking professional and businesslike again. She sat down next
to him and talked business as if nothing but business had ever happened
between them. Eteo listened carefully and agreed on what
needed to be done for his new company, now registered under the
name Alexa Ventures. While Rebecca talked business, Eteo played
with her combed-up hair and neck and ears to the point of giving
her goosebumps, and Rebecca loved every moment of this but without
giving any hint of her awakening desire.
But when she had finished talking business, she let him undress
her to nothing and let him place her on top of him and ask her to
make him feel as wild as he had felt earlier, and Rebecca did her best
and rode his firmness deep inside her and like an amazon gave him
the utmost sexual pleasure once again. They both went to heaven and
back numerous times until they couldn’t have anymore, and then
rested in each other’s arms until the time came for Eteo to drive to
North Vancouver and Rebecca to her husband and child in Kitsilano.
Over the next few days Eteo’s work kept him busier than ever.
Golden Veins was getting a lot of attention, and its price had risen
into the fifties. This enabled Eteo to unload some of his clients’ stock
and use the funds to buy shares in Wheaton for them. Platinum Properties
was also doing very well, trading at a dollar and a half now and
with good volumes every day. John from the trading desk had gone
in and out of it a number of times as the stock moved upward, and
Eteo had sold many of the shares he held, getting good profits for his
personal accounts and his clients. Even Helena made a few dollars
on Platinum Properties. This delighted her, since as a conservative
girl she usually stayed away from risky penny stocks, except of course
when Eteo advised her to take the plunge.
One morning Eteo asked Mitch to meet him, and within half an
hour, he entered Eteo’s office, wondering what this was all about. He
didn’t have to wonder for long.
“Have a seat, Mitch,” Eteo said without any preamble. “I had a
meeting with Rebecca Horton. She has put the wheels in motion for
a new company incorporated for me with the name Alexa. You’ll
serve on the board of directors along with Peter, the engineer…
excerpt
We hobbled jerkily, as directed, like some pathetic, three-legged
creature, until gradually we learned to swing our shared leg in
unison. In this humbled manner we were brought before the war
council of caciques.
The caciques were seated in a circle, with Guacaipuro given no
special place of honour. I was surprised to find Baruta among them.
Apacuana later told us that he had recently been made a cacique and
his body still bore the scars of the tests he had completed.
These were men who exuded confidence and authority, not the
kind of men one would cross unnecessarily. Their reputation for
bloodthirstiness coloured my apprehensions. I wondered if perhaps
we were meant to be slaughtered before them, as some sort of
ceremonial prelude to war.
I knew as well as Tamanoa that these Caribs were warriors,
conquerors in their own right. For generations, they had moved
from the south of the mainland to the northern coast, fighting their
way and conquering the gentler Arawaks.
Caribs fought among themselves, too, and made trading
incursions to the islands north of the mainland from which they
obtained not only goods, but also women. Not surprisingly, such
men were not inclined towards plans for surrender.
Though most of these men wielded authority over vast expanses
of land, Guacaipuro was chief of six other villages besides Suruapo.
Consequently it was the military strategist Guacaipuro who had
summoned the caciques of seven neighboring nations.
Whispering, Tamanoa quickly explained the gist of the
situation: Losada had founded the city of Santiago de León de
Caracas upon the settlement of San Francisco, and for the natives,
this had but one meaning: war.We were present because a cacique
called Mamacuri from the coast was arguing in favour of using the
shaman of the white men to obtain inside information about
Losada and his party.
Other caciques, like Paramaconi, great chief of the Toromaynas
from the valley where the new city had been founded, were more
inclined to kill me. Catia agreed with Paramaconi.
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XIV
Come, sit near me, my sweet emotion
and let us talk about all the non-daring
who shiver in front of our love
come let us both fight for their freedom
so they’ll purify their lives this holy dawn
come and sit next to me
by the front step of our house
let us glance at the first sun rays
as they spread over the expanse
and our love becomes a blessing
and endurance and eternity
come and sit next to me
we both shall give life to the next
generation of immortals
come, let me smell the depth of your body
that with such passion and endless vividness
we shall give birth to the new immortals
Manolis Aligizakis 