Monday 20 March 2006

Left-leaning and scented springtime floods

Flood has arrived. Fitting despite the sky's continued lethargy. And to think, only today I was shaken with the memory of the tiny video rental place in downtown Tofino. Not far from the Co-op, but then again, nothing is very far from the Co-op. Five small shelves of videos and the rest of the hut was stuffed with candy, salt snacks, and freezers of ice creams. That guy who owned it - he was trying to sell out. He had a long face and a voice that sounded like a sluggish recording. Ed?
But this beautiful music - now I can remember sitting in the front row of the Tofino community theatre, watching this man's fingers fly like grains of sand over the beach. Like gravity was a plaything. Remembering also the combination of weird and mysterious scents that had invaded the sloped room. Like a perfume of damp wool and exotic incense, smells carried into the building by the locals. They had come to share an evening out and had also mingled their aromas - fish, salt, sawdust, patchouli, sweat, cedar - which were woven like extra threads into their clothing. Politically they may have been quick to anger, but in general they all smelled mighty fine to me.
I remember writing while I watched him play, his boyish face half in shadow as he looked down at his guitar.
A lone spotlight made him glow on his low altar, a simple stool in the middle of a sunken stage. I wish I could remember what I had written. But I recall I felt warm, like somehow memories could be wordless sounds. No need for explanations – just listen. So cast off your wellies, my dears, and don your sandals over your socks. Here’s to turning left at every junction. Because it’s springtime in Ukee. And I love you. I love you I love you.

1 comment:

PurestGreen said...

grrrrrrr....