Nippissing

You drop back down through the hills
feel the temperature fly around you deciding what season it should land on
you start above the tree line driving over top of these great
big puffy yellow leaves – dandelion umbrellas where you feel the opposite
is true of the beautiful weeds growing in the grass
that you should perhaps roll down the window and blow wishes across
allowing the leaves to fall.
As you continue to drop back down through the skyline of wilderness and
Tom Thomson dreams you fall back into the landscape of your childhood
of farm fields and round bales of hay with red barns.
You’re well past the man-scaped cottages of Huntsville’s Muskoka region
and you’ve passed by the strip shops of candy shops and fishing shops
build your own docks….
you know as you leave the farm land beauty
you’ll soon be re-entering 18 lanes of madness dropping shoulders for the correct lane
and by midnight your skyline will be the Skyway bridge
leading you into an adopted home only a few hours from your original childhood
but perhaps a second chapter of where you learned how to be a man.
Through song and story and leaning on your brothers history
you’ll feel something inside that belongs to you
as friends say this has become your adopted home…..
In a few days the drive back up the hill
will take you back through the same trail of fragments as you head towards the
Nippissing –
you’ll cut through great pink shelf shouldering boulders with black streaks in them
brisket walls of granite carved with a forgotten knife allowing safer travel back into the tree line
above the skyline of civilization into a world where time and ideals move differently from the hustle of the GTA
where the south believes nothing of importance happens above the fold leading
into the North.
But paper maps no longer have meaning as our phones speak to us
about great legends and turning points in history
directing us back to our temporary brick home turning 100 years old
on a street half closed for construction
with a driveway that says for the moment
we are home….

Lee & Ray inside Liuna

beautiful tom-tom whisk
brush over hi-hat snare,
foot pedal pounding out war cry
steady.
hear the heart beat rhythm
chant beginning through floor,
lungs a voice on two legs
taking tremors through
vocal cords and strings.
-this train station is awake
hibernating tracks, vibrate out doors
earth pebbles, bounce on steel
richter scale heartbeat, tick tapping
a passengers ticket.

dear VIA
hear the sounds of the steel skywalker
and come home to us
the world of Canada sings inside and outside
these doors……

-where more can we travel? – leaving home.

going ‘home’

they had a smoke at midnight under the street lamp
one of the few places you could still smoke
even then
people leaving the bar gave them dirty looks – waving their hands and such

Gus pushed his hat up giving his forehead a chance to breathe
it was a hot night and sweat was forming on his brow
he didn’t want his prize possession to get soiled
– it was an old Biltmore fedora
found in the button pusher shop next to the bank on Locke Street

guys busted him a bit for it – as though only men in their 50’s or from the ’50’s could pull it off

the smoke rose up towards the midnight light
and they waited

a little guy would be coming out soon – and when he did…
they would grab him up – casual like but firmly
walk him towards a car parked in the shadows
interrupt him any time he tried to speak
let him know he didn’t have a choice

then

once inside the car
there would be the drive home.

better to call it the ride home than the final ride
to
a final resting place

but where the little guy was going….it was definitely going to be

permanent residence

CBC HAMILTON…..There’s Nothing Cooler Than Seeing your Name For the First Time On A Site As Awesome As This!

It’s so cool to be nominated amongst these other great writers….and to see your name for the first time on anything associated with the CBC especially in Hamilton….well that’s just awesome!

Congrats to the other nominees!

Cheers

Martin Durkin
SteelTown For Mary….

Link to CBC Story Here:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/news/hamilton-good-to-know-monday-literary-awards-crime-prevention-rick-mercer-1.3299908

Thank you to everyone for their support!

More news to Come!

SteelTown is Available through:

BLURB in softcover/hardcover and PDF:

http://www.blurb.ca/b/5271817-steeltown-for-mary

KOBO and KOBO INDIGO/Chapters for eReaders:

https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/steeltown-for-mary

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/steeltown-for-mary-memoirs-from/9780993774119-item.html?ikwid=steeltown+for+mary&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=0

local police surveillance

he walked along king street
ducked behind and followed king william
he thought about greek food
slipped inside and purchased a coffee
he saw hart and crossed james
went into jackson and purchased a shirt and tie
he went down the escalator
purchased wine and cheese at the farmers market
(steel city cheddar 5 yr)
thought about real dried out and tuff beef jerkey
rode the wheelchair access to surface level
appeared back out onto the newly created 2-way
tipped a hat to the salvation army
walked west towards the arena
(former arena – former team)
entered the library
stared through the glass and watched the old clock
chime
rented a free movie with his library card
tapped the ol’ statue on his way back into jackson
and smelled the sour fish from the worlds largest
groceria.
out the front door
he
passed the bike cops ready to start their patrol
crossed over to gore
gave a nod to queen vic
sat down on the bench
laid out his lunch and waited for the police
to say
‘you must drink that at home.’

Mona Lisa and You…..Stage/Lot #9 and 10

what if you were to stand there
12 hours
seated at the blank canvas
grips and caterers walking past
the outdoor elements
big cats strolling around
simple silence
perhaps the scratching of a pen
or the wet slips of brush tingling in the water
returning to the page
the shutter of a photographer wondering about
speed

don’t move my love i am not finished

don’t stand soldier strong

don’t smile

don’t think of the pedestal

RELAX

turn your head slightly
cough – the rib line is not xylophon’d

what if the sitter – the muse
the Mona Lisa
stood up and took a bathroom break
forgot which room and stood in another portrait
o wait – she did
and she smiled returning
sitting down – Da Vinci was confused
became bored started a self-portrait
finished with her
while the man next door
mopped his head
knowing his masterpieces would
never be world-renowned

and you sat back down
curious why he was mopping his brow
but he waved his hand
told you the day was finished

so

naturally you took your pay
returned to the trailer
forgot about the set
the photographer the grips and the caterers
you plunged down on the sofa
and wondered about tomorrow
while young men carried new scenery to the stage
and your eyes fell to
slumber.

If you believe what you see on television…

there is no case of mistaken identity
not when standing in your lovers work shirt
hair in towel
coffee in hand

eyes

saying

‘Would you like a cup?’

yet
that’s what he was claiming
stating

‘She’s not the woman i married’

suit ties with penned badges
not entirely
catching his reference

wondering

improvement?

but she’s sitting on the sofa now
eye turning blue/black
tears in sleeves

screaming

‘I thought this was what you wanted!’

what he wanted?

‘What i want is breakfast on the table when i
come home after a long night shift!’

domestic quarrels

pinned badges are looked at
side pocket therapy is pulled from experience

“You can’t hit women you mutt!’

then

‘Give the man some eggs over easy once in a while!’

followed by….

“tell her you love her
and that she’s sexy in your shirt’

finally

‘now – do you want to press charges against him?!’

head raises off sleeve
nose drips
eyes search for the right answer

‘No’….

‘Good’
says the roomful of badges
-a chorus song

‘but if we gotta come back here….”

…and all that’s wrong with the world
keeps spinning into tomorrow

It’s Official!

SteelTown For Mary is coming to Steel City Stories!

In association with GritLit in Hamilton, Martin Durkin will be part of the storyteller lineup at the Hamilton Art Gallery in April!

Date and Time to be released soon…..

 

NOW ON ITUNES!

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/id866628453

STEELTOWN FOR MARY, MEMOIRS FROM A DICK, is now available on ITUNES!

Simply click on the link: http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/id866628453

Also Available in soft cover VIA:
• http://www.amazon.ca/dp/0993774105
• http://amzn.com/0993774105

Available in Hard cover and soft cover VIA:
• http://www.blurb.ca/b/5271817-steeltown-for-mary

Available in EBook Format:
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-CA/ebook/steeltown-for-mary

http://store.blurb.ca/ebooks/470133-steeltown-for-mary

grey biltmore, gray, the rest is black and white

after he
spilt
the beans
after i
handed him off
to the
cops,
and before
she
knew

before the dress
dropped
before
she took
my
grey chapeau gray,
sat it on
her
head
above that
beautifully
framed
red
dress

she asked,

where’d ya
get
the hat
baby?

from a biltmore

from toronto?

nah,
i say
– on a side bar
in steeltown,
locke street
called,
button pushers

and she
pushed the
hat down,
pulled
the brim
low

a professor
owned
it,
pHd kinda guy
but
the hat is
mine
now
baby

johnnie, she
said,
johnnie shark

that’s me
baby

then she
began to
thank
me,
in one
helluva a
way……….