Consider the View

 

Blue skies

Smiling at me,

Nothing but blue skies

Do I see.

Bluebirds

Singing a song.

Nothing but bluebirds

All day long.

Never saw the sun shining so bright.

Never saw things going so right.

Noticing the days hurrying by,

When you’re in love, my how they fly……

“Blue Skies” composed by Irving Berlin in 1926.

 

Blue Days,

All of them gone,

Nothing but Blue Skies from now on.

 

June is a tricky month of memories for me. Father’s Day, my father’s birthday, and my parent’s wedding anniversary( June 21)  all clustered together.  My father, Paul Kanski, passed away in 1992, at the age of 76.  He and mom loved to dance – they grew up in the age of the great dance bands, when jitterbug was king & foxtrot ruled the floorboards of the dance halls. Blue Skies was one of his favourite tunes. Sometimes, late at night I could hear mom singing it to him in their bedroom.   Even now in my 60s I miss them – Time is a con artist, handing you gifts with one hand, while picking your pocket with the other. 

over me, music –

blue skies above carry clouds

dancing – silent steps.

 

 

 

 

Asemic Cinema: Run-A-Way Bus

Welcome to the Asemic Cinema, where opening  shots& titles tell a different story from the one passing before your eyes. This week’s classic comes from a time & place that once was/will be.  It is a re-write of  The Runaway Bus (1954), a British Mystery-Comedy – please note that the sub-titles have been deconstructed to find alternative meaning.

 

Conversation finds

travellers seeking motion

commotion in lines.

 

Asemic Naturalist: Sketchbook Pages

After travelling to the exotic lands that reside Beyond the Borders of The Dreamlands at the edges of the Pages of Imagination , the Asemic Naturalist looks through Memories Sketchbook, cleaning the Corners with Creative Curves and Shades. A Map of Figurative Lines and Metaphorical Letters grows and charts the journey that has been taken, showing the way to New Ventures sailing on the horizon.

 

These compositions incorporate some quick production preparation sketches done my wife for  Elliot Lake’s Roundabout Exceptional Puppeteers.  The group was setup by her to provide our local Special Needs community with a  creative & performing arts outlet.  This season’s  performances include familiar characters from popular media culture. Find out more at  their Blog and on their Facebook page.

 

 

 

 

from exotic lands

 dreamers return, cling to sights –

on stage rare visions. 

The Test Commences

 

The Test commences now.

Please take time to read through

the text –

Fairy Tale of Conviction and Hope.

 

 

Remember the Test is Timed.

Carefully read all the questions – Over –

before you compose your Answers.

Take your Time.

 

Remember the Test is Timed.

The Test commences now.

Read all the questions Over

Time.

 

Time begins now.

Test time begins.

Once it is over,

Please note the time.

 

Fairy Tale of Conviction and Hope

Because they have not seen the latest morning sun, the lullaby of trees whispers through the open window. Two turtles dovetail in the clouds. Now this is laziness of metalipsis, not able to find their refreshing habits that are running through first breath of day.

Why you ask ? Ten years ago, a duplicator of spirits was seen in the shadows; a sorrowful multiplication of figures embedded in a dalliance of sweet minimal mimesis . Even now voices softly fade away on the shimmering pond of flowers. Sadly, there is a broken bird song resting in the delicate petals where the sunlight pollinates with soft pirouettes. The scent of melancholy rises up, mixes with hummingbirds and owls.

Like a melted metronome covered in metaphors and dragonflies, the stream in Spring sings and dances joyfully. There, carried by frantic splashes, the Machine churns dreams and octagons, pouring them into jade moulds. This device coexisted with the lovely Mime-to-graph, in the peaceful understanding that each shaped the message to suit medium and the intended audience.

 

As is with such mechanical co-operation, words mixed in a chorus of similes & sapphire epideictic envelopes. The flyers spread – carrying messages, leaving droppings on heads as they passed. The creases of headlines bleached out the insecurities of the day. None minded the turtles hanging in the clouds, laying eggs in shifting air currents, their shells covered in unsubstantiated statements.

So it came to pass that the destined pair walked through the channels of the towering buildings. Hand in hand they moved past wonders and marvels most only saw manifest in dreams. Iridescent vapour poured upward to the distant tops of the busy buildings, and still the young couple pushed onward towards the Plaza of Solace and Despair. 

Once there, they gathered up from the central fountain stirring echoes of the Minnesingers in glazed paratactic pitchers. With youthful certainty they moved on through empty crowds, dispensing conviction and hope stained with tears of happenstance. They are there still, watching the passing elephants sing to the blue blabber wrench fluttering in the City’s ceaseless breath.

 

A common dream is the Test/Exam. Unprepared, unsure memory, confusion and uncertainty fills the dreamer with anxiety.

Dreaming test – questions

certainty of what is real –

waking in time – hope…..

H BtAM

 

 

Those of you who remember the Ditto handouts in the classroom will recognize the blue text in these compositions created from scanography loose collage pieces. Finally clearing out left overs from years of teaching, brings back a host of memories and emotions – time has turned to past tense reveries, technology changes and crucial Mass Media becomes artifacts of another century ( Mass Media consumes & transforms other Mass Media into content ). For those of you too young to have experienced the blue/purple of a Ditto, here is a bit of historical background.

A spirit duplicator (also referred to as a Ditto machine in North America, Banda machine in the UK or Roneo in France and Australia) was a printing method invented in 1923 by Wilhelm Ritzerfeld and commonly used for much of the rest of the 20th century. The term “spirit duplicator” refers to the alcohols which were a major component of the solvents used as “inks” in these machines. The device coexisted alongside the mimeograph.

Spirit duplicators were used mainly by schools, churches, clubs, and other small organizations, such as in the production of fanzines, because of the limited number of copies one could make from an original, along with the low cost and correspondingly low quality of copying. ( See:  History of the Spirit Duplicator )

As secondary school teachers, my wife & I always had  a stack of ditto sheets ready to go at home to prepare handouts ( the eventual arrival of a photocopy machine made life considerably easier) . One day we came home to discover our dog and cat waiting for us. Dog sat happily wagging his tail with his very blue/purple tongue.  The cat was sitting daintily on the table top with her now lovely indigo paws. Shredded ditto sheets littered the floor. The dog was happy to see us, while the cat had an expression that seemed to say he did it, I tried to keep those papers from sliding off the table, but alas it could not be helped. 

Torn strips, blue letters

fallen to memory’s floor –

Time stains finger tips.

 

 

Ethel Walters sings “Am I Blue” recorded 1929. I can recall/hear my mother singing this one and she & my father dancing to the tune.  More tangential stains left by Time.