On Bay and George,
shaking hands with the glee
of a Bicester childhood
remembered
in an Ontario street,
pennies against the rails,
bent out of shape
on tracks
and over several cups
of coffee, no tea for me
as I found it doesn’t travel well
,
we reminisced in a place
of reminisce,
of memory and forgotten times…
except you applauded my memory
of those lost in the ether
and the sadness I felt
for them all.
The past was always a friend,
The black-out curtains hide
a multitude of sins
in the deserted night,
I can still hear your breath
escaping
but I cannot see your breast
plate move, only
by touch
somewhere in the dark
do I know that you are safe
as the Sun fails to rouse you
through any chink
in the curtains.
Ian D. Hall 2016
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
To keep quiet, to keep the peace, can often be close to martyrdom, it can be seen in the eyes of some as being too much on the fence, not wishing to antagonise either story being told; in truth it should be laudable but as the heavens open and suppression reigns, so Silence & Ruin can be the master of all.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It has always been the life blood of any society, without the river there is no growth, no substance, no heart and it so often gets over looked unless you live along or near the banks of any great river, the ones that lead to the sea, the oceans; the rolling waves, the banks that overlook the lazy waters, where badgers, toads, good natured rats and the half sighted dear mole play, it is no wonder that we should all make the most of going Down To The River.
Where have the years gone?
they once seemed like glacial
tracks, slowly moving, through
King Street West and the now
forgotten memories,
half remembered storms
and thunder
in the mind,
too many days
now stand between me and then,
what could life have been
if I had the strength to cut my way
through the ice…
yesterday never knew
or cared.
Ian D. Hall 2016
They had demolished the Nunnery
on King Street West, death
to the practice, the calling
and the habit
moved on up the hill,
up the mountain
closer to their God.
Empty space and a hole
at least ten feet deep, rubble,
prayers now unanswered
as God hears nothing
from his sisters.
Ian D. Hall 2016
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Halloween calls for the imagination to go into overdrive, a night in which revellers can mix with the weird, the wonderful and even Elmer Fudd’s Wassicly Wabbit if the call should be desired hard enough. Halloween is also the night of corporate holiday, the fast buck made, the night where perhaps some live very much in the moment of F.E.A.R.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Never confuse laidback with anything other than industrious and forthcoming; it might mean something else in a dictionary but in the hands of one of the most admired guitarists in North America, it just spells out a musician of strength, of drive and purpose wrapped in the skin of someone who cares deeply about the world and the handcart that it is going to Hell in.
It hasn’t been all fun and games
along the way, the Progressive
Highway, the Punk Lane, Rock
Avenue, the odd Pop cul-de-sac
and runway Metal, the plane landing often
over the moped of forgotten misses
and lesser hits; it hasn’t been all fun
and games but for a thousand
nights the electricity
has kick started my heart
and made it thump
more than a kiss from
an English Rose
or Maple Leafed Lavender Girl.
It hasn’t been all fun and games
however, it has been the finest
Through the glass like Alice I fell
whilst still holding on
suspended
thousands of feet above the Earth,
tumbler ripping me apart
though no physical scratch
or open wound oozing blood;
the baseball stadium far below me,
let’s play ball, let’s play dare,
look down girl
and fall through the looking glass
high above Toronto.
Ian D. Hall 2016.