It’s tempting to see a woman as a poem. Men too, but I happen to be thinking about my main character, Carly Rouhl in the Requiem novels. She’s a poem in the sense that she was created with imagined characteristics: appearance, personality, fears and ambitions. She took shape in my mind the way photographs used … Continue reading Poems and Rivers
Writing
Bringing Out the Dead
My neighbours across the street are installing cobwebs on their house. They have a large spider web draped over their front yard tree, and an inflatable green spider. They also have three ghosts. These ghosts are recognizable as such because the are draped head to toe in white sheets. I’m not sure where this visual … Continue reading Bringing Out the Dead
Small Bird, Big Sky
I just watched a scene from one of my favorite movies. Again. I must have run this movie a dozen times over the last few months. I’m not going to tell you what the movie was because it’s not an objectively great film, and you probably wouldn’t know it anyway. We all have films that … Continue reading Small Bird, Big Sky
Pepper’s Ghost
Around 1862, John Henry Pepper devised a new theatre lighting technique involving a large angled sheet of glass and figures moving around below stage level. The trick made it appear that actors on the stage were translucent phantasms who could walk through walls and furniture with ease. The technique made possible plays with impressively transparent ghosts. … Continue reading Pepper’s Ghost
A Chef’s Guide to Spooking
I can’t remember which writer said it, but the gist is: ‘I write by inspiration, and inspiration comes at exactly 9 A.M. each morning’. I scowl when I think of this. I wish I could spew out great stories like that, but the truth is I do a lot of staring off into space with … Continue reading A Chef’s Guide to Spooking
Open Door Sex
After I had been writing the Requiem novels for some time, a professional editor pointed out to me that there are two types of sex. This was a revelation to me, because, you know, I’ve been around. Apparently to an editor there is ‘closed door sex’ and then there is, well, ‘open door sex’. I’ll confess, doors … Continue reading Open Door Sex
The Karst
Conversation between Detective Prem Joshi and Deputy Superintendent Filman: Joshi: “This time he dumped the body in a karst.” Filman: “What’s a karst? Wait. Is this the setup for a joke?” Joshi: “No, no! Let me have my moment. I’ve been waiting weeks for someone to ask me what a karst is. It’s a geographic … Continue reading The Karst
The Curious Case of Maxfield Parrish
I’ve settled on a name for the fourth Requiem novel: Requiem for Parish. The word ‘requiem’ refers to a mass for the dead—a prayer for their souls. An unconscionable number of people get murdered in the new novel, so I had plenty of names to choose from in framing a title. So, who is Parish? No, … Continue reading The Curious Case of Maxfield Parrish
Route 66 Revisited
I drew a cartoon once: There’s a lovely maiden sitting under a tree and a young swain is kneeling beside her with his hand on his heart. The girl says, “So you can write poetry. You’re still a Goddamed shepherd.” I’d been reading pastoral poems with their delicate idylls of love and simplicity, but I … Continue reading Route 66 Revisited
A Thurber Carnival
The CN and CP tracks run parallel and close together here on the MacTier sideroad. As I approach the first track the red warning lights start to flash and I pull up far enough back to get a good view of the train as it crosses the road ahead. There’s a wail from somewhere in … Continue reading A Thurber Carnival
Douglas Cockell 