Christmas 1998

part 1 of 6

 

Well, it comes down to this... a Happy Christmas and Prosperous New Year to you all. This year I'm again trying another alternative to our formerly standard news-of-the-family letter. Recently I was reviewing the haiku [short poems in a style based upon a traditional Japanese form] from my major art project of the year and I realized that much of my life was leaking through them. In a way they had became a diary - though perhaps a rather surrealist one. So with suggestions from all the family I have chosen thirty or so to share here.

Interspersed with them on the following pages are electronic copies of the Christmas cards we made by collaging old Christmas wrapping paper with found images and other materials. Cards were made by my son Julian (b.1984), by two of my daughters, Carol (b.1986) and Danielle (b.1989) and of course I made many myself.

Warm sun glinting,
thousands
of unexpected pools.

[Calgary, Mar 20th]
Hunched over a terminal,
unconnected
to the world
behind my back.

[Calgary, Mar 27th]
Driving fast
through big puddles
is always
a splendid joy.

[Calgary, Apr 3rd]
Unwise tulips
now find themselves
snow-covered.

[Calgary, Apr 13th]
Tangling with
twining roses
proves painful.

[Calgary, Apr 25th]
Sixth-grade acting
quickly turns
Greek tragedy
to slapstick farce.

[Calgary, Apr 29th]
How can we be
hot, sweaty and dusty
already?

[Calgary, May 1st]
Donning wooden clogs,
red shirt and baggy black pants
I'm a Dutchman now.

[Calgary, May 11th]
Chopped off heads fly up,
bodies sliced to tiny bits;
die dandelions!

[Calgary, May 31st]
Umbrella not found,
ventured outside without one;
of course, I got wet.

[Calgary, Jun 1st]