J.W. Burleson photo / Boquillas del Carmen, Coah.

PHB

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Brooklin, Maine, United States
We own a 1975 GMC Sierra Grande 15 in Maine and a 1986 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe 10 in West Texas. Also a pair of 1997 Volvo 850 wagons. Average age in the fleet is 28 years--we're recycling. I've published 3 novels: THE LAW OF DREAMS (2006), THE O'BRIENS (2012), and CARRY ME (2016). Also 2 short story collections: NIGHT DRIVING(1987) and TRAVELLING LIGHT (2013). More of my literary life is at www.peterbehrens.org I was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study for 2012-13. I'm an adjunct professor at Colorado College and in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte. In 2015-16 I was a Fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The Autoliterate office is in Car Talk Plaza in Harvard Square, 2 floors above Dewey Cheatem & Howe. SUBSCRIBE TO THE AUTOLITERATE DAILY EMAIL by hitting the button to the right.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Freighters on the nod, English Bay


Whenever I'm in Vancouver, I walk the path along the seawall in Stanley Park, missing Maine and reconnecting with the idea of ocean. There are always bulk carriers parked on moorings out in the Bay, waiting their turns to steam up Burrard Inlet and fill with coal, wheat, potash, etc. You can tell they're empty because they are riding high. And there are more of them out there than usual: I wonder if the declining economy and the drop in commodity prices has slowed international trade? China isn't as hungry for Canadian raw materials this year as it was last year.
    When I see the ships out on English Bay, I'm always reminded of lines from Bruce Cockburn's Wondering Where the Lions Are:
Freighters on the nod on the surface of the bay 
One of these days we're going to sail away 
Sail into eternity 
Some kind of ecstasy 
Got a hold on me
And I'm wondering where the lions are.
     Did Bruce write the song, or have the vision, while staying at the Sylvia?--my favorite  Vancouver hotel.  Excellent views of English Bay. The Chelsea Hotel of the Pacific Northwest.


     Well the B.C. Lions (Vancouver's (Canadian) football team) look to be heading for the Grey Cup...if they win their Western Finals, as expected...the 99th Grey Cup is being played in Vancouver, later this month. The Montreal Alouettes still have a chance in the east...but the Hamilton Tiger Cats whipped them badly last weekend. Are the Toronto Argonauts still in the running? What about the Saskatchewan Roughriders, and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers? The Calgary Stampeders, and the Edmonton Eskimos?
Freighters on the nod/on the surface of the bay.

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