Hope Springs Eternal...

... more eternal than spring, at least. 

Edmonton flowers always bloom too soon.

After a Couple Clouded Days

... the evening light shines through. I was out for a walk this evening, and managed to lose my grudge against the snow, and fall in love with the city all over again. Am I a fickle lover? Yes. But at least I keep on coming back.

A “The”

a, adj.

Pronunciation:  Brit. /ə/ , /eɪ/ , U.S. /ə/ , /eɪ/

Indefinite article (determiner). Used only to modify a singular countable noun head (or in some cases, a plural phrase treated as such).

 I. Indicating indefiniteness.

 1. Used in an indefinite noun phrase referring to something not specifically identified (and, freq., mentioned for the first time) but treated as one of a class: one, some, any (the oneness, or indefiniteness, being implied rather than asserted).

the, adj., pron.², and n.²

Pronunciation:  bef. cons. /ðə/ bef. vowel /ði/ emph. /ðiː/

 A. adj. As definite article.

 I. Referring to an individual object (or objects).

 * Marking an object as before mentioned or already known, or contextually particularized

 a. Before the name of a unique object or one so considered, or of which there is only one at a time; e.g. the sun, the earth, the sea, the sky, the air, the world

 b. With a count noun, to indicate the individual example most familiar to one, or with which one is primarily or locally concerned, e.g. the King,  the Town, the House

[OED]

I'm sitting at a little red table in the centre of Churchill square, after a workshop with Edmonton's poet laureate, Roland Pemberton, aka Cadence Weapon. It seems an apt time to reflect on the city. 

I've started calling it that: the city. Not a. The: the definite article, reserved for cases of decisive assertion, a most basic indicator that there is only one.

Roland addressed this differentiation between “a city” and “the city” in his poem “Monuments,” suggesting that Edmonton is as much “the city” as New York. And I think he’s right. Any city, when viewed among a multitude of metropolises, may be just “a.” But “the” is a thing that comes from within. It is designated by the people, by the citizens. It denotes a certain ownership, but also a reverence for something that exists with or without its custodians, that can never quite be owned.

Sitting in the centre of the city, I hear the strum of a guitar, hum of passing cars, and watch white seagulls and airplanes soar through the sky. The wind turns the pages of my notebook back, and the clock tower advances to three.

Tunnel Vision

It's been a while since I've posted a photograph, so I thought I'd share this image. It's one of the ones I took when creating a map of the highlevel bridge. This tunnel-like view is one of the reasons I love walking across the Highlevel - stick your head into the traffic flow, and you feel enclosed. But lean out over the river, and you could be flying, there's so much open space.