A triangle of trees were lassoed with tough ropes. Each trunk, encircled with a padded harness, held itself stoically to the ground. Two men bounced, wobbled, and periodically traversed the rope between trees with grace. One floppy, determined child tried. Outside the triangle of tightropes, a woman practiced spinning a large hoop in a series …
Category Archives: Indulgence
A variety of lovely somethings.
An Impromptu Circus
3 May 2009
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By Joshua Chalifour
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Posted in Moments
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Tagged circus, parc la fontaine, park
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Comments (1)
Direction Giver
I jaywalked diagonally from one sidewalk to the other. At 7:30 in the morning traffic is light. But I hadn’t noticed others on the sidewalk. Except for a well-bundled family, which walked up the hill I was going down. A tall husband, wife, and their two children. The man made eye contact with me and …
6 April 2009
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By Joshua Chalifour
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Posted in Moments
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Tagged directions, grand central station, la gare centrale, tourist, walking
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Comments (0)
Montreal Roof at 7, Réveillé
Redless black morning chimney mount; a two-dimensional relief stamped on white-blue sky. With ventilated hat, in brick composure the ragged outline of domestic industry stands upright, dormant while altocumulus float beyond, sunrise igniting their pink.
15 February 2009
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By Joshua Chalifour
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Posted in Moments, Poem
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Tagged chimney, montreal, sunrise
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Comments (0)
Aesthetic Transformation
“Ugly! Eyesore! How could people think it was a good idea?” A giant slab of concrete in the middle of the outer edge of the park. For shame, city! This was no sculpture, I thought. Why preserve and move the edge of a utilitarian-designed building to the park? If the rest of the building had …
8 November 2008
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By Joshua Chalifour
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Posted in Indulgence
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Tagged aesthetics, art, experience, montreal, monument, perception, statue
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Comments (0)
Thirty-Four Twenty-Threes
Starting this project, I had no idea where it would go. Yet on days like today, I joke that I’m almost there. No doubt I’ll make it, once almost there won’t be. Happy birthday, me.
Two Fellows Disagreeing over Reconciliation
Two fellows argued near a phone. One of them, greying hair, a turpentine diluted blue cardigan, gestured with both hands. The other rolled his eyes up and tilted his head sideways. He made fleeting eye contact and though not the elder, he was the taller. They spoke urgently, probably not clearly but I was too …
Some History from the Back Pocket
I keep a small, spiral-bound notepad in my left back pocket. No, I’ve kept many. I’ve done this for years. Looking back, I’m not always sure what I’ve written or why, but I save them. A collection of a few of the pages: 23 July 1998 — First words with the Fisher Space Pen. Do we …
All Possible Objects
A moment reflecting on the gaze of amazement
29 May 2007
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By Joshua Chalifour
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Posted in Moments
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Tagged entheogen, peyote, psychedelic
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Comments (0)
Eye-to-Eye
When he was a boy, he’d accompany one parent or another to banks, convenience stores, hardware stores, places queueing people to exchange money for whatever it was worth. He’d stand by the counter waiting to be noticed. Sensible, he waited in line, not interrupting, rocking from heel to toe to heel. Sometimes grownups pushed ahead …
Breath Wanders, Wonder Visits
One morning, driving along the river, outside my neighbourhood, I witnessed the rapid welcome of a brilliant, melancholy, antique cloud. It descended at an angle from the unlimited above, with its measure of a western direction. I wanted to stop. At 7:00 in the morning with no temperature, few people appear on the street. A …
Observation Linkages 1
My wife is a professional at human emotions. Humans believe that which other humans tell them. James quoted Smith, saying a door in the hall lost its hinge pin. Smith agreed with himself while historically throwing a hinge to roving garbage collectors. If streets roam, their participants stray. 1906 infamously smoulders on the pages of records of …
An Inclusion of Strangers because of a Dog’s Joke
A surprising inclusion happened during a brief moment on a small corner of sidewalk. As Heather and I walked toward the cross-street, a couple walked toward us. A woman stood on the sidewalk, facing her shop’s window. Its overflowing wooden rectangle of flowers drooped a degree toward the street. She kept a hose running lightly …
Tadoussac Urchin
And how fitting you are, urchin, for the first of the found. It’s been a rough day? All spiked and broken green quills drooping like some tired eyelids. The day started lulling like any other, I’ll bet. A back and forth like home-sweet-home, just the way rhythms work with littler things getting eaten by the …
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