I.PAGE H.SHlW B.RUDDJCIC P.DDERSON IR.SCOTT MONTREAL JULY 1943 MINERS • • • PATRICK ANDERSON Here it is always night under Glamorgan: under the heels of girls hanging their washing in a Welsh wind, under tho heather hoarding tho nountain boos uhoso blaze pales in the shadow of mountains; dark in tho big scams, dark at the coal face and in tho shaft, the TTorkings· (whothor tho pit bounder land or aoa) it is aluays dark. But tho m0n come with lights and bury thomsolvos in tho mine Hhore tho great forests of fern and flowers and fabulous trees thut once grow on the earth now lie all hard and dark and packed together- that we may have ferns of flame and flowers of fire and great vinos of power over our cities and groat birds and mailed saurian rnachinory the men go down to that dark harvest. As though tho lightoning rot urned to tho tb.undorcloud tho ocn return to tho great primitive thundercloud of the oarth: as though tho child rcturnod into tho wonb tho men return. Many dio. It is dangerous. Gas cx~lodos. Water pours in. Dark bccorncs dark again. The dead in the coal slo~ly precipitate. Many died after ~aiting on ledges or in the black ~ater until their hunger relaxed into a satisfied decrepitude and their eyes reflected no more I PAGE TWO the inagin0d light. Eany died after long TTaiting for a hanmcr in uhit0 to tap liko a saviour and lights rinse with haloes heads fear nade holy. But tho dark uas sufficient unto itself. The hours ~ere absorbed like chcnicals and tim0 slowed down into geology. Many tines tho syrcn gushed in the hearts of uonon or the v1heol.ing st0oplo stopped, and the strike was on: then by the little cottages, each uith its privy under the black and blue hill, non hard TTith anger stood like sketches drawn by a nervous hand • upon tho nargin of life. Their dangerous trade had mde then radical and black yet uhat nore dangerous than to sell furs or flowers to woncn whoso good tine was nearly up, ~hose discontent, draTTing tho nouth's bou queerly, inpaled a Jew upon a continent? And what nore truly dark than the din workings and nining niles of sluns where labour picked itself to be another's profit? What nore _certain than that props ~ould give and death, leaking in roof, cover thon up with darkness, a final sha~e? Yot no~ the derricks race upon Glanorgan's hills and tho ~heels of our heads drau up tho loaded v0ins of once blind power and dredge for tho long dark and ~aiting monuments of tho people's dead: firing those histories, we forgo fron shadows uoapons. PAGE THREE TWO POEMS AL!CE EADY THE BELL-SOUND .ANl) TEE COPPER TOl-.JE Tti.r, :y•,;J.•-':-! '.)lli:.d u.nd tho copper tono Of the strange longings of people Resound and resoundo Until the air is filled with a maturity of sound. Until there is a ripeness and a wholeness Like the richness of funeral bells, Crossing and int0r-crossing Like a field of barley. INDIVIDUAL You must be far apart and alone and together. I ·mean, ·cogothcr by yourself, Togeth0r with all your different selves. And then you will b0 spread out like a bog And hard like peat And trampod do~n like marsh. And that is the loneliness And that is tho speaking. GIRLS II/ITRI.AM WADDINGTON In summer the light flushed faces of my girls Rush to me with hullos along the green street of their growing, And from their freckled smiles all their hopes bloom out, And in their curving laughter all their past is carolled, While the strands of hair damp against their foreheads Are tendrils reaching from the roots of their joy. Oh my girls, as you rush to me with your swift hullos I see over your shoulders the years like a fascist army Advancing against your love, burning your maiden villages. I soc. your still minoriti0s destroyed in lethal chambers Your defenseless dreams falling backwards into the pit, .b..nd I see The levelling down of all your innocent worlds. I offer mysolf, a splint against your sorrous, luid I kiss the broken wings of your future. PAGE FOUR EXAMINER F.R.SCOTT The routine trickery of the examination Baffles these hot and discouraged youths. Driven by they know not what external pressure They pour their hated self-analysis Through the nib of confession, onto the accusatory page. I, who have plotted their immediate downfall, I am entrusted with the divine categories, ABCD and the hell of E,, The parade of prize and the backdoor of pass. In the tight silence Standing by a green grass window Watching the fertile earth graduate its sons With more compassion --not commanding the shape Of stem and st~en; bringing t.he trees to pass By shift of sunlight and increase of rain, For each seed the whole soil., for the inner life The environment receptive and contributory -I shudder at tho narrow frfu~es of our text-book schools In which ~0 plant our so .various seedlings. Each brick-walled barracks Cut into numbered rooms, black-boarded, Ties the venturing shoot to the master stick; The screw-desk rows of lads and girls Subdued in the shade of an adult -Their acid subsoil -Shape tho n0ti1 to the old in the ashen garden. Shall wo open tho whole skylight of thought To these tiptoe minds, bring them our travelled world And the broad acres of art for their field of growth? Or shall we pass them the qhosen poems with the footnotes, . Ring the bell on their thoughts, period their play, Make laws for averages and plans for oeans, Print one history book for a whole province, and Let ninety thousand reach pagelO by Tuesday'? As I gather tho inadequate paper evidence, I hear Across tho neat campus lawn The professional oowers drone, clipping the inch-high green. FREIGHTER PANORAlVIA. Pll.GE FIVE BRUCE RUDDICK In concord then they sot up hasty ways on city's edge suopt by the inland ~aves. Built hor to fon~ula like a hundred oor0 es low and ugly as their stunted love. ~bn froo the bread-line and fron rodeo poured out the natal doun in dark Lachine, rivet and rib were knit on wo~don ghosts, death in her b0aos and cheap and hurried plates. Not built to pick her languorous way aoong tho .Isles of peace that nou are arraod or burned, no spice or jewel rests cosy in hor gutt but snubbed to wealthy harbour she rocoivos her stroanlinod properties for scones of waste, and no boy ever whistles to soc her sail. Guttural hero and silent in tho gulf she'll plough hor secret track ar1ong tho waves and pound uneasy waters on tho heads of rotting heroes and of rolling whales. Built while tho day is cager she will sail till profits or a million sailors die, or, lost sor.10 night in heaving tons of spa.co, she'11 swell a warning froi:1 e. Cabinet Voi cc. Or, whon tho thing is done o.nd heroes go back to the greasy east or wooly west, rusting she'll lie tilted in the bay while boys and tides maraud about la.r bows. P.K.PAGE In quick panorat18. ~ith parasol, parrot and panda; saying perhaps or becall5e, eating pink end of uatch and with pastel tissue for lavatory use and deparlourized parlour and cheddar tho lamplight of love they dissolve upon chairs, write ruin in poarls on the flesh of inherited faith and famish in pairs, . They attend us in drearas and in droves like a filigree shade fall down between us and our time prick tho drum with their tun0 and fence the inviolate field with tho quick of their oyes. PAGE SIX Yet uo grow like a child-overnight have shot up half an inch; becono tall with boliof, on tho rungs of our hope bocomc strong; arc travelled, kno~ nountain and plain, arc the jacks of all trades-Jack of dianonds and Jill, steeple jack, happy jack, demi-· johr1. Know tho spoctrun-tho colours of air and of death; bruise th0 press uith our sight; arc stippled uith sound of tho world and aro steep with desire; arc not fancy for fools, haemophiliac or physicians in lovo but multiple one bocono nan arc noon for their tide. men ' THE CHIEF MOURNER P.K.PAGE Tho cortoge of hopes w-ith .its astonishing nourners goos single file in the street in this turbulent uoather-drawn on a transfer with a cross-nibbed pen. Tho carriage hearse and tho bobbing plurnos on the horses ure of another tirae-not this, not ·now~ not ever~ While child with tear-smudged hands behind the windou sraolls tho dust on tho lazy C1n'..yere curtain, not understanding her sorro~; the chief mourner, spared tho pulled down blind of a black dross, tho cobwebbed gloves, the. bonnet of Victoria and the hand of th0 dead in tho pastel papered album. Sparod these--yet narrow in grief as tho pauper's coffin given no military honours, trailing its black lino of despair across tho smoky window. On the slipping sill there is dust and one dead fly dry as a cinder, blowing as sho broathose Nothing is sure but death and the crazy weathor and the punie~ed child standing with oyos too big end tho bonos of her fingers growing beneath hor skin. PAGE SEVm FURTHER NOTES FROM BA.IE ST. PAUL PATRICK ANDERSON To the mountains we never got. They remained a perpetual d.istance. Sharp and blue they rose and feil as one walked on the hillsides-ridged like tarpaulins, with ash-coloured shadows on them, they would suddenly appear over the soft steep outline of a pasture--in groups or one alone--judged distant and high and formidable by the degree of blue darkness troy secrot0d, tho packed looming shapes, at once simple and sinister. Meanwhile we worked and ate and absorbed tho life of tho place: walked five miles here and six thorc: bathed in La Lumicre or tho St. Lawrence or some mountain stream where one didn't need ony swimming suit: afforded a bottle of beer once u week and now and thon invited people in to the dingy sittingroom of tho hotel, drat"ring a curtain across tho middle of the room to gi vc us some :privncy from tho commorciu.l travellers to.lking ·nround the counter: pickod blueberries! vnld strawberries e.nd everlastings~ drank quantities of water and if-elt .often depressed and guilty o.s the Gcr.ir..en advance closed in on Stalingra.do When we first aITived the fields were a mass of daisies, by the time wo left at tho end of August tho trees wore nlrcndy turning. In tho heat of the day the country was singed nnd d'.ifficult, the vu.lloy walls omitted a yellowish haze, it wns vn.th on effort that one's eyes climbed then to some distant thumbsizod poplur or barn. E'vcry-nhero grasshoppers · :pattered like rain in the du.sty scrub end crickets chirped 1,·,ri th a. sound like broken gluss, After lunch I would bo trying to Tj~rk in our room which croaked and snapped vvith the hco.t, gctting up ofton to h:.1vc a gluss of water end kill flies with f:n old sock. Pogg:r' s canvasses lvcrc propped age.inst tho wuinscote, the nud.0 turned.-(when one of us hc.d romomborod) to the wo.11, to respect the f eolings of the chamber rnnids,, The rond to the bathing pool was long G.nd straight c.a.11d rnn pust the; .Avocat's house whcro there was o. squirrel in a cc.get, Automatically one po.used ~d rapped, ~.ind the squirrel r :~ out into its wheel flnd gallopod rourJ.Ci, c.nd it was the very· buzz of irritr.ition, tho singing of :i fly in the circle of your cnr. Thnt ·vin.y one :pnsscd ncur the mudhousc whoso long ga.llcrios ·vrore turned towards tho nfternoon sun, From it there came f'.Jl. inccssunt humming punctuated with shouts, scrcps of song, the rough sketches of human tnlk, .:l.nd you could distinguish figures 1t1,::i.lking behind tho wire us you looked across tho gnrdnns o.nd duck pond--thc delphiniums nnd u~tcrs ~nd dr.lhlio..s growing prof'us0ly in the garden to tho loft~ This roud WQS used by tho sick nuns on their way to thG private kiosk they wore building G.S o. rest house up in the woods boyond· Ln Lumicroo Bonchos hod been provided for them nt regular intervals. To s1t on one of these wc~s to fool the cou.r..tryside giv0 you ~ slight electric shock, something compoundod of wnrmth und tho throbbing of vrind through all the r ,.~11 fences to which tho bench wus, so to speuk, plugged in" .At such a momont ono ·would· distinguish tho vr:.rious tones in tho burley, wheat nnd long grass around ono--seothing, tinkling, u.·profound low sigh, mixed with the stiffer rustle of dnrkgreoE frilly corr1&, On hot dnys when I hc.d not ·worked cc~sily or well I was, I suppose, over ready to detect tho sinister an.d strnngo, ospocially since· this countryside symbolize~l mn.-11y c0:nf\1ft0c!. }'lnunttc.e :proc~cupQ.tions 0f my otm.--thi3 plo.co I ' PAGE EIGHT that was so lovely und so vrr-or..g, sc much minority-lQnd, rich in grievances, frustrc.tions Cl.lld out-modod fni ths.,, Zvcn some of the idiots whom one passed on tho country lunoG had about thci~1 Yvhon they wore still ut u dist:mco, or · whon one cc..ught only a glimpse of their fncos, u stro.ngo bright tcndor qua.1.1ty, · n beauty that vms perverse: vri thou.t c~s yet cli::1ngtng into positivo ugli-. ncss--whi ch reminded mo of tho people one noots in droans. ' I re:neubcr ccrtcin incidents. Thoro wus Rc~·J. Simo.rd, a school · to.::.chcr w1 th· who:11 I ii\To.nt for scverr.Q Wi'l.lks « Wo tz ~lkod incessantly ')f modern litor.:~turo :: J.:r.d politics., Ho told no to road 'Le Dovoir' in the sr-::r.10 brc,:.th tl1,:t ho r:·d.lod Dgainst the 0:-~tnrio cnpitc1lists~ Ho wns sr1c..ll. r·~nd young ,.:nd jolly, J.cved rcc..dtng but couJ.dn't get i:10.ny b:-)oksr-1-v.--1.s po:-)r, still rot::.lly a :pccso.nt 1.n nppco_r;~nco, ··lnd led .:~ lonely life in zt snclll to1:n1 some miles D..\7CJ.y, ~.\r.ac:1 ,No :."eachod n l)rc-dipi cc on or.e of our w2.lka ho shrr.ml( awc.y ::md could not b0::~r t o look dov,rn it~ Ho rotI·o~:tcd to L sGfc dj stcnco and 1.'E.~itod for us thoro e Ho hn.d n g :.v..c log r::nd f"ro::1 tir;lG to tiID.e as ho "t:.uked s:1ould fnll choer:t"'u11y ho~\dlong. It wo.s c.11 rnt.h0r courtly, onthusit~stic~ tender nI.:.d tton onbr.trrnssing--as h.Co.l pickod hirasclf up frcn tho buE.hes c:..nd continued to oxplnin Q,uoboc to no or justify his prcfor0nco for .Alfred do Musset. .And the blinC. mon 1,vho rco.d tho 'Cuthclic D5.gest' in brc.illo 8.D.d so e1pprocictod composers liko Prolcovief' n'l1.d Shosto.kovitch tho.t ho composod· some vurinti0ns on the 'tllor.1c in tno first r.1c)veuc11t of the Loningrc.d Syraphony--tho dny he vt.:tlkod -vd th us thro1,1gh u. Ymsto of sand nnd scrub inhubited b:r over n thousGJJ.d hens t b 0 sun was ::ilnzin~ dovm a.nd ho lookod. so s0ody in 'his blue wincl-brec:kor~ cm.d ·wo vrondei·od if ho cou;_d find his 1ilG.Y bc:.ck across tho stJl:os. Finally ho turne(1. ;:nid loft, o. loan bobbing figuro ·wt:.lking confidently, and ' no.st of the hons began to follovv h5.n i n. a.n 0 bscoi:i.o v-sho.ped phalill1X through tho dirt nnd s1i1clls of tho placo" But chiefly I ro:r:1oaber the Conjuring ShowI) W0 wont with Ninette. It was stifline;ly hot n.nd the school :1.udt torium wo.s pnckod: so much so ·that children crouchGd stori ng throug]:,. its bo.senont 11rlndov-rs. As nJ.ways, tho Curt nnd the other pri f)StG occupied the fro-c.t row" Pb0:plo stood :~gninst tho walls, plustflr casts ::if so.ints })o:s0d ab,Jvo their hon.ds El Thero was '":~ littlo sto.go, blt1.e velvet curtuins c..r n:w:1 ncr oss i 1:i twi tchod occnsi!)no.lly, then soE1cDnc (tho ;1' Mo.y~)r, the Mn.ster or' Coromonios?) ct_ilno through j bent over to spoak to tho Curo, und disupponroQ.,. T'nero wa s n t3rout donl :1f shuffline, 1,'Jhisperin3 '.') tho ushers, t scrnpiag 0:f chi.::irs ~ VJnvtnrs to f1"t0nds p Most of tho nudioncc wore slicked up in the; ir best: fcrE:. boys ln bloclr sorgo, tho flo.shi er custoL1ors in green flnnnol vnth c. })in s t ripe and, nay·oo, c.. strr1'ii-r hc.t~ Somo of tho war.ion mro thnt fnvourito colour co:t1bi.no.tion of crinson and nnr:;cnta vrhich ·is usunlly roscrvcd fa~ tho Sunnny pnrado~ At lo.et tho lights vroro turned dovrn an.cl tho curtains purtod amidst nucr. gig$ling :1nd cr--dl} t r.e; of nGcks.., The s-'cngc -rvns cluboro.tely docorntod with crinson t -~::bl0s and st(..nds cmb:r·oidcred v7i th me.steal signs~ This conjurer hnd no loss than four ussist:}nts,. Tl:C'J wore boiled shir::s und red toilconts which were frzr too J.u~ge :t'or tl1roe rJf ther.11 but q_ni tc ~:~ tight fit for the fourth, whoso looso :pot"-b-clly sage;oc1 in front of hino · I never saw n norc dcprossin~ group of r1ona The tnll loan ones l ,)Oked hc.lf-s'tnrvodo They dr0opod with vo.c-· uous srins on their fc.cos o Tho fat ono shook like C:\ jelly" Thon, ~-d'ter a. momcmt of expectancy on tho pc.rt of -tho at,.dicncc , tho Conjuror swopt in, Ho wus PAGE NINE n. hUBC bull-necked nc.n with n brisk 1:10.nnor und a rather l:cctorin.s ill-tonpored fnco. His lur30 hond wets b::.ld but ·,\Thnt nc.dc his a:ppcnrnnco so fri3ht0ninB wa.s that ho vrorc tho lon:s black cassock of a priest. I co.nn')t say that Br0thor Mc.uric9, f0r this w~_1.s his nn.no, we.a n vory '.300d conjuror th0u[;h ti.l around nc I sr-J/T .:,;a.pine n)uths GrO"''' wider und wider until Ninette, who hnd a Rr~bolaisi;:1-n sense ·)f h~-:iour, su. .:;:;estod sr...o stick her umbrella in one of then r~nd thon open it. He used c. §b:-.tt doul. •')f nppar~tus nnd very, very littlc sloi~:.ht of hrmd. For conic roli of he ron.chod dovm into the folds of his cassock nnd p:foduced clussos of brnndy which he tossed off in c. dr::n~1tic nusculc.r 1.·1ny. But lvha.t ho nost loved w~ts n revolver, r... bi~ black ·one whose · deafening ·rep0rt nnd spout of flame r.::.cconpnni od his nost inportn.nt tricks. The G ccond pnrt of tho pr:1gr-rn consisted 0f c. Chinese scene, tho tricks bein~ done to n :pie.no ;:cc0n:pnninent by one of the l ·)ca.l ,sirls. She boc~·m playing the ,vron.:~ pi cco r:md Broth0r Mcnirice bc.rkcd ;·:t l:cr tmd strod c over t0 :,:,nc corner of tho s tctGC fror1 which Ile issued direictions. Ho Wl-1S dressed in the r0bcs ,f n r.1r.1ndc.rin, his hc1.I1ds in his sloovos, 8lld he :passed up nnd dov·m in n runino.tivc chincsc wn.y \'vhilo one of tho assistnnts sang n s0ne, nnd san0 it well. fho decor dc:pe~dcd lnr3cly upon n nu.i~bor ~f dolls (incidentnlly neither Chinese in nppcnrnnco nor costtmo} which wore curefU.lly, if rcthor indecently, perched over c scni-circulnr rJw of li3ht bulbs so thnt their tulle skirts were illuninntcd from within. This wus considered Q mc..storpiece by the audience. When the song wc1.s over, Brr,thcr Maurico produced a r-:bbit fron r.,)whcro, held it firmly in his hc.nds