Poetry Corner: “Dedication to a bus driver that will never know”

A dedication to a bus driver that will never know

blank paper makes as much sense
as the music of turnstiles
constant inflow and outflow
eddies of confusion
fail to distract the frustration
and the odious comfort of mesmerized pacing
brings little solace
as
insanity clasps the narrow ledge
of its opposite sister
masses of flesh ooze their way
to compartmentalized hopelessness
a man makes love to his whisky bottle
amidst the red eyed concert crowd who mumble by the greedy chocolate smeared faces of wretches
who annoy mimic telescreened adventures

Eros remains helpless
joylessly suffocating
while Thanatos
gleefully offers an exit
and
frustrated young poets
sit in buses
unable to meet the 5 Year Plan of literature
futilely attempting to explain all

Robert K. Stephen


Poetry Corner: “The Great Canadian Roast Turkey Manslaughter”

The great Canadian roast turkey manslaughter

58% of Canadians admitted in a recent poll they left their bubble in 2020 to other homes for a roast turkey Christmas feast
Over 20 Canadian politicians warmed their toes on foreign beaches
This is not what public health officials preache

Hospitals are bursting
Refrigerated tractor trailers and getting ready
Wasn’t your friend and family time so heady
Thank your fellow Canadians for making a Christmas surge
If we knew who you are you would be welcome to be named in a criminal manslaughter purge
Almost all of you will hide your guilt
But if you want entry into the pearly gates
you’ll be forced into never ending waits

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner: “South African Roasted Pigeon Droppings”

South African Roasted Pigeon Droppings

Time said they were great
Newsweek claimed them a delight
Rolling Stone wrote they were outtasight
Playboy advised them as an aphrodisiac at night
Your neighbour could get you 10% off on a wholesale deal
Good Housekeeping rendered them their seal
National Geographic showed tribesmen scraping them off the rocks
Clearasil used them an ingredient in a cream for zits
but i
personally believe they taste like
the shits

Robert K. Stephen

Life at Up Up and Away Investment Management International: Chapter 33 we don’t ever expect you to return

Chapter 33

We don’t ever expect you to return

I heard from Stella Asterisk one of my colleagues at Up Up and Away Toronto, that after a year away on disability she and Sally Self never expected me to return. Loose lips sink ships! Boy I thought, what would happen if I did return! Interesting strategic possibilities opened.

There had been minimal contact between my colleagues and I during my disability. A disability insurer must, for privacy reasons, play disclosure very carefully to the extent that they can say the disabled employee is disabled and undergoing medical assessments. For privacy reasons they can’t disclose the exact nature of the disability. At least that is what Happy Insurance Company told me.

Stella had also told me my “replacement” had been hired, Trebba Smaye. Trebba’s presence in my office was no surprise. She was a Canadian lawyer that had worked with Up Up and Away in New York but scuttled back quickly to Canada fearing termination and loss of medical benefits in New York. Socialized medicine in Canada has its attractions. I just knew she was waiting for my retirement to jump into a Canadian position reporting to Canadian management. She jumped at the chance to assume my position with the bonus that it was my disability as opposed to retirement so she managed to grab it a few years earlier than she had originally planned. Stella and Self had always been tight and the timing was right to leap back into Canada.

Sally Self never communicated this to me. I heard about it initially not from Self but from my administrative assistant who sent me a good-bye e-mail after assuming Smaye’s appointment and presence in my office meant I would never return.  I checked this out with Sally Self and she vehemently denied it was Up Up and Away’s intent that I be replaced. Sure thing! A slip of the tongue and I knew I was done. An all-female legal department. The perfect clique. Forget about Global Diversity. Old white men over 60 are not included. Old Lives Don’t Matter.

However, this was music to my ears. If I was cleared to return to work, knowing Up Up and Away’s stinginess so well, that would mean there was no budget for me to be hired. And as I had told Stella of my possible cognitive disabilities the comfort level of me handling billion-dollar deals was just about vaporized. I was contaminated and if Up Up and Away Toronto refused to offer me back my job on hidden grounds of disability they were looking at a human rights litigation claim. Finally Up Up and Away was in my crosshairs! It would also be of great interest to the media looking for a public shaming article.

I had long ago realized with help from my medical team any return to work would be extremely detrimental to my health. Not to be crude but I thought it was time for compensation by way of a severance package from Up Up and Away Toronto for how they had screwed me over me over.

Poetry Corner: “Good Shot”

Good shot

Writhing in misery
a
Niagara Falls of blood
a companion of the dead fall leaves
supplanting cellophaned beef
for 3.2 families

the busy executives of death
blind to the forces of nature
Place carcasses on top of cars
and parade homewards
to continue the same
on Monday morning

Robert K. Stephen

Poetry Corner : “Ward 23A”

Ward 23 A

Eating burgers and sipping Bud
we watched the idiot (did you have to say that word so loudly?) box
Jimmy Kimmel grabbed me
but I pushed him back into the tube
Ed Sullivan used to stroll out in the old days
and that shows you how long I’ve been here as NCR
but Ed and I said hello!
shared a smoke and went our different ways
But look Carson is out and beating up Merv Griffin (on rerun night)
Thank god our friends the men in white kicked them out (no visitors allowed here)
But shit they just broke the television or “telly” as they say on Coronation Street
Now we will miss Sesame Street and those great reporters on Fox
God bless them for their spin!
so glad their incumbent did not win!
Where did that Trump go?
But this new guy Biden is for me
What a guy to thwart the coup!
Tomorrow will have him for tea
Golly gee
Do you believe me?

Robert K. Stephen



Canadian report on COVID Grocery Shopping!

A mundane but recognizable and identifiable reportage on grocery shopping here in Toronto, Canada.

As we batten down the hatches here in the Province of Ontario in Canada my international readers may want a lurid expose of my grocery and banking shopping trip today here in Toronto.

As an avid and very select shopper I have an array of grocery shopping destinations and depending on the severity of the lockdown I can avoid line-ups. In the summer and autumn months I can access a farm 25 minutes out the city for the freshest and most interesting produce available. If need be I can still access them but with a reduced inventory of products.

As for my first today stop at “Lawrence and Bathurst Square” a 20 person line-up at “Metro” grocery store. Big line-up at the bank too. So off to Fortino’s at Bathurst and Allen with no line-up and a good selection of produce. In and out like a flash which is great COVID behaviour. This is not a shopping expedition but a rush and grab and get the hell out of here experience.

A simple dinner of broccoli and leek soup with leftover Mushroom Wellington. All local ingredients.

And for tomorrow morning freshly baked oatmeal bread with Greek honey and Italian Abate pears.

So at this point in the plague here in Toronto savvy shoppers knowing their neighbourhood can manage quite well including 35 oysters for $9.99!

However in my travels in the Communist Eastern Bloc in the mid 1970’s I had to line up for bread and dried meats. But Russian sprats were in good supply so I ate many a can of Russian sprats. What are sprats? Russian sardines!!! Point is I know that food scarcities are real and as for toilet paper runs there was always editions of “Le Monde” used for that purpose in the old Eastern European Bloc. Given my training in shortages of food I never thought it might be relevant in Canada. At least I have some income to buy food but as for Americans and Canadians food banks are being overwhelmed.

As grocery store employees are falling prey to COVID here in Canada it may very well be my Eastern European experiences will come in handy. As for toilet paper I need not resort to newspaper for at least three months. But tell that story to Canadians and they really don’t have much of an idea about using air mail editions of “Le Monde” for a wipe!