who would die
for a languishing lie?
would end buried
for an empty gasp,
word without breath?
save yet that we see
there’s a horizon
we will cross regardless
so maybe,
maybe for a beautiful lie
one might die
cloaked in scented deception
like anointing myrrh
one might sail the darker sea
clothed in false but fair company
into the air
heaving prayer after prayer after prayer
into the air
and to the starry expanse
perchance, perchance, perchance
awaken God from some trance
that seems so all encompassing
this thing, this thing, this thing
this empty hall without one angel to sing
there is not even echo to focus upon
gone and gone and gone
and we would run to the east toward dawn
if but the sun would rise and lead us on
dark is night and mind
dark like mine
like a mine
to delve
to sound
but lost my way
there’s a glow
there, a ways away
far from this place
deep behind my eyes
I have to wander
just me here
with footfalls
they fall
beneath
wish it were warmer
am I gone
am I graven gone
to the grave gone
buried
I don’t know
there’s no one here
to tell me
to be my caged bird
to fall and give me life
why was the tangled grass so green
beneath the cracked and dying canopy
of the failing apple tree
where the fleshy fruit now lies?
there in the knowing shade i can see
this feeding rot and sweet decay;
where, underlying it all, a mass
of honest life – of grass, of worms and flies
i wonder now at what might come
when the tree is wrecked and gone…
will vitality burst and squirm forth as much
with no end in sight, no sunset before my eyes?
“I’m the best mayor this city (Toronto) has ever had…” – Rob Ford
Yep, it’s true. Rob Ford said that after registering as a mayoral candidate (the first to register) on Jan. 2, 2014 for the upcoming November municipal elections.
Mr. Ford is an interesting character. There’s no doubt he has attracted more attention to the city of Toronto than all previous mayors combined. Now of course the attention has not all been very good however there is a saying that any press is good press.
I am starting to wonder if Mr. Ford is some sort of political savant. It seems in most areas of his life (those that are public) he has stumbled, tripped and generally screwed up his way along. Somehow though when it comes to politics he seems indestructible.
“Did you smoke crack?”
“No”
“Reeeeeeaaaaaally?”
“Ok yes.”
And the political life of Mr. Ford continues, perhaps even stronger than before.
There are police interviews, eye-witnesses, video tapes, his own personal confession and yet charges will likely never be laid. It is as if you have to be walking down the streets of Toronto with a crack pipe in your mouth asking a local police officer for a light before a charge could possibly get laid.
When all of these things are brought to Mr. Ford’s attention he simply states “Look – you don’t have to like me. You don’t even have to vote for me. Just look at my record and decide for yourself.”
Therein lies the political brilliance of this guy. He does not quit. He does not bend. He simply screws up, falls down, gets up, and moves on (constantly). He really does not care even a tiny little bit whether people do not like him. Ironically the more he falls down the more opportunities people have of seeing him get back up and this begins to build a kind of grudging respect, the kind of respect a boxer gets after his fifth time on the mat in two rounds. You want to say “shit man stay down” but another part of you is kind of starting to appreciate the stubborn doggedness of the guy.
Every other political figure in the world, when confronted with damning, concrete evidence of public drunkenness and drug use, would have said – “well – I have no choice, the gig is up, all I can do now is resign with what dignity I have left and move on”. Ford, however, says “Screw dignity. They legally can’t force me out so I’m staying. So what if I got drunk…nothing illegal there. So what if I smoked crack…I was never charged…I’m just going to keep mayoring along…I’ll do it alone if necessary.”
The rest of the world looks on in perplexed shock. “Why is he still here? A normal person would have quit in shame and embarrassment.”
But you see Mr. Ford is not a normal person – if he has any capacity for shame or embarrassment it has yet to show itself. Any mayor who can publicly talk about going home and getting a nice “hot buffet” from the wife so-to-speak is a unique force to be reckoned with unlike any we have ever seen before.
Then there is the pesky reality of his political record. Like it or not Ford has brought enormous change to the city of Toronto. He has managed to see a bloated and excessive budget cut enormously and hold the line on inappropriate spending and taxes etc.
It’s kind of annoying to quite a lot of people. I mean if he were a crack smoking, hard drinking, lewd, clown of a mayor who ran the city into the ground it might be easier to force him out of office – instead people have to argue against him not so much based on his record but based on his appearance and attitude.
“Do we want such a man representing the city of Toronto to the world?” they ask.
A long time ago a naive political candidate for prime minister, Kim Campbell, asked the same question about rival Jean Chretien (not so unlike Rob Ford in political tactics really). She asked the question in the form of a terribly unflattering ad that slowly zoomed uncomfortably close to Chretien’s face, particularly the crooked side of his mouth as if to say “do we want this foul, street-fighting, ugly guy from backwoods Shawinigan, Quebec representing us on the world stage?”
In response Chretien and his team told the story of his childhood hearing loss that permanently crooked his mouth; they spoke of the regular kid from Shawinigan who had an opportunity and was going to fight for it…and you know what – he won.
It is happening with Mr. Ford now. In asking such a question the political savant in Ford rears up in all his brilliance and says “See!! I told you! Elitists. The wealthy, good looking, liberal elites of Toronto are threatened by regular, screw-up working Joes like you and me. Fat old slobs like you and me who love a good beer (or two or three), a big burger with extra bacon and a hard days work because that’s the only way you and I survive cuz we don’t have mom and dad’s inheritance and privilege and high cost education etc.”
After this a big part of the city population wakes up and says – “shit you know what? He’s right. Those tax and spend elitists have been in charge long enough. It’s time to put a regular, hard working asshole like me in office and clean things up a bit.”
This is why, at the end of the day, I think Mr. Ford is going to win the next municipal election for mayor of Toronto. He may be a foul-mouthed, drunken, lewd, occasional drug taking, over-weight bull in the china shop that is Toronto but he really doesn’t care about any of that. He’ll run the entire city all by himself if no one will work with him.
He says to Toronto – “yep…this is who I am. Elect me and this is what you’ll get…but at least you know what you’re getting.”
the sudden and unexpected
knowledge of one’s mortality;
it does a strange thing to me.
there’s a surge of adrenalin
as if the body’s preparing to fight.
what a hopeful, honest thing
that I might smile at this death;
this robed, misguided thief
and laugh with tearful words –
“Come at me then pitiful wraith
let’s dance through the storm
and see who’s drowned in the waves
as I grin gap-toothed from golden shore”
I received Craig Thompson‘s graphic novel Habibi as a Christmas gift this year. Ever since I read his Blankets I have been tracking him and so when Habibi was released I absolutely wanted to get it (so it was an awesome gift).
I essentially consumed the whole 600 plus pages in one day. Before I get into the review I should say a few things – I have read other reviews of the book already. Typically I do not do this but I wanted to get a sense or the reception of such an unusual creation.
Broadly speaking critics have widely praised the technical excellence of the art and drawing Thompson has achieved with Habibi. Critics are more divided however on the content in terms of story.
Habibi is a story filled with tragedy, allegory, metaphor, love and desire influenced heavily by the style and art of Arabic script. The story is also substantially influenced by the Quar’an and Islamic culture.
There is no sense of time in Habibi having a blend of past and present influences. The story is set in a fantasy version of our own world that serves to act as a satirical vehicle for commentary on themes of environmental stewardship, anti-consumerism, racism, misogyny, sexism, gender intolerance and a strong voice against a the current growing disparity between the wealthy and the poor and all the suffering that goes with that. Through it all Islam also serves as a representative of all three major middle eastern faiths being influenced by both Judaism and Christianity. Throughout the text Thompson keeps his critical voice free of hate and treats the subjust of religion and faith with deep respect in the form of his main characters Dodola and Zam.
Some reviewers have accused Thompson of cultural misappropriation and misrepresentation considering it inappropriate for him to offer up Islamic, Muslim and Arabic themes and settings as a white, mid-western American. While I understand those concerns I think they are not warranted given the respect with which Thompson treats the subject matter. It is somewhat patronizing for a member of another culture to state that one from the outside can offer no level of understanding or contribution; that one cannot learn. This perspective is divisive and is what has led to much of the cultural and religious conflict that exists today.
The characters of Dodola and Zam somehow manage to encompass virtually all the forms of oppression one can imagine in the world today and it is their relationship with one-another and their faith that somehow guides them along the way. It is difficult to tell which informs which as the threads of the story are so deftly intertwined that it seems that faith is informing life as life is informing faith.
One of the things I appreciate about Thompson is, while he seems to stand outside of belief and faith (at least based upon my reading of his previous work Blankets) he handles his subject matter with great respect and fearlessness. His fearlessness pushes him to go places others would not likely tread such as his treatment of sexuality.
His respect and fearlessness combine in his treatment of the Prophet Muhammad. As a visual medium Thompson runs the risk of breaking the Islamic prohibition against depicting the prophet yet he does depict the prophet – only he is always veiled so as to be visually neutralized – respectful and fearless in one.
I loved Habibi. I loved it from cover to cover, every word and image. It is brilliant and necessary and I believe is another work that sets Thompson apart from others in his genre. With Habibi Thompson has done what great artists always do – lifted his work above its genre into something universal and beautiful.
Harnessing Chaos 