DAWN

(Photo by George Blumson, courtesy of the LFP Collection / Western U. Archives)
Generation / Regeneration
Kayla shared some photos and stories about her family’s past, and coincidentally my relatives have been sharing some family history over email this past week or two.
I was thinking about my grandma Obokata, who did ikebana and was a star of the London Ontario Garden Club. I was able to get this 1967 photo that appeared in the London Free Press.
(Photo by George Blumson, courtesy of the LFP Collection / Western U. Archives)
About my Grandma Obokata (from my play, Japanese Maple):
Scrub scrub scrubbing
your garden hands grandma;
Rub rub rubbing
your rounded back grandma;
blink blink blinking
your tired eyes grandma
so many mysterious
and wonderful things you do in a day…
You fall asleep with your glasses on—
“To see my dreams better” you laugh.
What dreams do you dream
grandma
behind your glasses
behind your smiling flower eyes
KAYLA

we acknowledge the ones we never met?
▪️
this week, dawn and i briefly spoke on the idea of place.
for her, for me, for them