| Eviction Today I received a terrible shock, My landlord had changed the lock! My key wouldn't fit in the door, I couldn't get in there any more. On the door was left a note, This is what my landlord wrote. "Your rent is three months behind, I have had enough of your kind. You're evicted; I'm throwing you out. Give back your key and get the hell out." What now? I was on the street, I longed to feel my carpet under my feet. I went to the Church to have dinner, This night was certainly no winner. I starved all day and froze at night, There seemed to be no end in sight. That's how it is when you're poor, No one cares about you anymore. So, let's get rid of the Harris Tories, Let's write a different ending to this story. – Bonnie Briggs ============================= The Man in the Black Hat The man in the black hat began to write about the gentlemen sitting across from him in the cafe on Roncenvalles. It was a cosy little place he often frequented whenever he needed to escape the business of his work day. As his pen jotted his thoughts, his eyebrows moved in union, questions of his mind -- looking and glancing from side to side. The gentlemen was quietly reading a folded newspaper in front of him. The Star headlines read that a ship had been lost a sea, No survivors. I wonder why it's all so... well not good news, he thought. His trousers were well pressed. His jacket the colours of brown and green plaid. His shirt tucked neatly into his belt. His hands, fingers were large-- one that has done much hard work in his life. He was drawing large sighs as he read and read. by Bradley Hitchcock artist may '2000 ================================================ The Ferocious Bear One night after dark at the cottage, a bear prowled just outside out door. The bear roared so ferociously we stayed in! Next morning the bear was gone. Going Smelt Fishing In the middle of the night dad woke us up. He said, "The smelt are running." He grabbed a net. We dashed to the lonely creek. A big letdown! There was only one smelt and it was spawning, so we left it alone. The Squirrel That Got In One fall when we were locking up the cottage Bob and Aunt Milly stood talking beside the open door. A squirrel sprang in. A shouted to Bob, "A squirrel!" He looked, but could not find it. After we left, it chewed the screens trying to get out. Bob found it the next year wrapped in a blanket, dead. - Catharine Jean Theresa Pearson ========================================================= Waiting to Share Blind in the honey of wealth leaders agree that this land rolls over a sea of oil and lifts and stretches beyond the rainbow, a gold of grain. But hush the fact sadly that there show more each day cold young faces facing empty bowls on bare tables waiting for mother and a meager portion pained again from the foodbank. – Manien Laska ===================================================== IF I WERE YOU PITY! I don't want your damn pity! Life is hard enough in this cold, dark city Sure, I may be homeless and you may not like the way I look but that doesn't make me a crack head or a crook What I really want is for you to accept that I'm a fellow human being who deserves some respect I'm here for reasons you may never understand but please don't think me subhuman as I walk this barren land You who sit in your nice, warm house and drive around in fancy cars should know about the cold, hard truth that made us what we are Women who were beaten and who couldn't take it anymore men having a hard time ‘cause they fought in a war Some who have fallen right between the cracks who could use a little help but the services, they lack Take a good look in the mirror and the next time that you do think about what it would be like if I were to become you! J. Michigaus ================================================ L e t t e r : Dear Alias Collective: Thanks for #41. It's my personal favourite of all the issues I've read so far. It left me vibrating in more ways than one. In particular, the articles by Bonnie Briggs and Homeless Harris really made me mad! The stupidity of governments! The idiotic policies (at all three levels in Canada) beginning in the late 1980s formed a large part of the reason I am here now, in Ireland. I realize now, more than ever before, that governments only do what ‘makes them look good'. Ireland has been experiencing an economic boom (played up in the press as ‘The Celtic Tiger') but homelessness and chronic unemployment remains unabated. The governments here, as in Toronto, Ontario and Canada (in general), cannot go deeper than the surface. So I was thinking - why not make the surface more disturbing? Why not have the homeless taking strolls through Forest Hill, Rosedale, Hog's Hollow, etc. Let the people who pay (?) The taxes see what is being hidden from them. Make the populace of Toronto unmistakeably aware - we are a democracy, aren't we? If the middle classes start complaining, then City Hall will have to do more than put up smoke screens while applying band-aids. Keep up the great work Giovanni Malito, Cork, Ireland =============================================================== Two Poems Shimmering My concern is the sky With its penetrating eye Each action more integrated Exactitude like fine jewelry A new set of solids arise From the foundation In that bright expanse We sat without words And none of the usual pictures The argument was over And the belly grumbled We know that we are at our best When spontaneous and natural Knowing beauty's direction Beneath the sky's shimmering structure =========================================================== by Oswald Phills April's Kiss Now flickering in and out The sun through the clouds I feel the beads of sweat Rising to the surface The backyard wall is bright The vine adorned with pink buds A shadow falls across the wall And this passes A finch darts through With a twig in its tiny beak This passes too Yes it is spring Despite the pollution April's kiss is here ================================================== |
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