Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
...
Stroll of Poets Society
c/o Writers Guild of Alberta
11759 Groat Road
Edmonton, Alberta
T5M 3K6
Telephone 780-422-8174

September 2008 October 2008 November 2008
Mon, 06 Oct, 2008 Random Picture (water4.jpg)

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Lysergia: The Day of the Ergot



Ergot-y wheat flour has slipped into the food chain
and all who buy our bakery’s shortened leavenings
share both the lightening and the darkening.
Coffee row's fresh donuts
catch the banker, the constable and the station master
right after church;
Sunday’s scones with tea
catch the devout in the church basement;
Johnny’s sister’s family at their twins’ baptism
share their braided loaves
and the fungus’ toxins
catch half the town;
Sarah Vedro’s Bat Mitzvah blintzes and knish-dishes
caught the rest yesterday.
At the first evident sharing of this lysergic moment,
a buzz tears through the village:
Bella Faccio, the deaf-mute,
has said nothing for years,
but is speaking in tongues
and torching buildings
just north of the tracks;
Jan and Cam Carew and their three little ones
had been to the bank at foreclosing time Friday --
today they pack to leave their land forever
while somebody sets their buildings afire;
Vasily and Mary go to ground
in the root cellar under their house
after devoutly placing a hoe and a Seneca root digger
in the shape of a cross
in the middle of the yard
between the house and the garden;
All five of the O’Connors gather
dancing jigs and reels and hornpipes
up and down the streets
to the music of their bodrans, fiddles and flutes --
wearing nothing but their instruments;
The constable opens the jail
and releases the remanded murderer
on her own recognizance;
And Danny McKay climbs the CN station's semaphore tower
with a box camera and a tape recorder
to record and broadcast
the strangely beautiful events of the day.

Dean Morrison McKenzie © Nov 14 2005


Web Design by Douglas Elves. Water reflection photograph by Linda Jennings.

Dean Morrison McKenzie
Biography icon

McKenzie's a kid from the village; it shows in his themes. His poetry, fiction, music, films and essays are laden with imagery gathered from the world that surrounds small prairie towns. So far he has co-authored two or three chapbooks, read his stuff on public radio and has had his voice used to record commercials and training films. McKenzie's first CD, "Prairie Hejira" was published in 2001 and on November 23rd, 2003, at The Yardbird Suite, he and the band released "The Silver Apples of the Moon". He also wrote the script for "Skipping Stone" -- the AMPIA-award winning film produced by Frame 30, and recently Michael Hamm screened McKenzie's "Night Benz", another short film based on the prose/poem included in this chap book. It was awarded a Silver Medal at the Houston International Festival of Independent Films in the category Jazz/New Age/Spoken Word.

When asked about life as a retired English teacher, he refers to it as a bus man's Holiday. "I've been editing the work of others all my life; now I'm smoothing out my own roughnesses."

Watch for his next chapbook, "The McKenzie Chronicles" and "The Jazz Poet" CD is just around the corner along with a loosely connected series of short stories about the "Urbaniginals". McKenzie is also working with MaxMedia to produce some poetry/art/music videos with the collaboration of Alberta post-modern impressionist Wayne Schneider. Wayne's paintings create moody graphics that reflect some of the darker aspects of McKenzie's themes; the corollary: McKenzie's poems reflect Wayne's angst. Andrew Glover's synthesized keyboards will accompany "His Recurring Night Terrors" in the performance poems.

The submissions in this electronic chapbook include pieces that you may have read, heard or seen elsewhere, but they were nearly all published on this web site or in the Stroll Archives before they made their way into recordings, public performances, hard copies or film scripts.


POEMS