Saturday, January 05, 2013

My Mother's Red Shawl - El Rebozo Colorado
George McWhirter - Poet





After the war

He was a barrel with fists that flailed
at your face for even a sideways look:
a tough egg, whose appearance
gave the expression meaning.
Five and furious at something mysterious
every one of his friends and foes had
or done. He pushed kids off kerbs
as if they were cliffs, elbowed them
into brick walls. A dig was his
how-do-you-do. His mother’s eyes
smouldered with the same familiar fury
at him or us for infuriating him.
Holding the ends
like a knitted wool rosary
she kept her arms folded
under her shawl, her breasts mounded
like our dark, night-time fires,
damped down with slack so the burn
would last. One day they came to check,
line us up, strip us, listen to our chests
for TB. Some shed shirts and vests
like childhood afflictions they were glad
to be rid of from around their ribs,
but he peeled his off, one after the other,
as carefully as scabs, down to a liberty
vest, and stood beside those underthings
in a pile, this thin white scar, too frightful
for his classmates to show pity.

Raúl Guerrero Montemayor Padre-Compadre
Alexandra Waterhouse-Hayward Maestra
Shirley Gnome Singer/Provocateur
Yeva & Thoenn Glover Dancers/Choreographers
JJ Lee Writer
Jacqueline Model
Cathy Marsden Psychiatrist
André De Mondo Wanderer
Colin MacDonald Saxophonist/Composer
Nina Gouveia Yoga Instructor
Stacey Hutton Excercise Physiologist
Colleen Wheeler Actor
Sarah Rodgers Actor, Director,Mother
Kiera Hill Dancer
Johnna Wright & Sascha Director/Mother - Son/Dreamer
Decker & Nick Hunt Cat & 19th century amateur
George Bowering Poet
Celia Duthie Gallerist
Linda Lorenzo Mother
Katheryn Petersen Accordionist
Stefanie Denz Artist
Ivette Hernández Actress
Byron Chief-Moon Actor/Dancer
Colin Horricks Doctor
Ian Mulgrew Vancouver Sun Columnist
Jocelyn Morlock Composer
Corinne McConchie Librarian
Rachel Ditor Dramaturg
Patrick Reid Statesman, Flag Designer
Michael Varga CBC Cameraman
Bronwen Marsden Playwright/Actress/Director
David Baines Vancouver Sun Columnist
Alex Waterhouse-Hayward Photographer
Lauren Elizabeth Stewart Student
Sandrine Cassini Dancer/Choreographer
Meredith Kalaman Dancer/Choreographer
Juliya Kate Dominatrix