Long Okanagan Poems

The Call

For as long as I can remember, I have been phoning my mom. Even before leaving home when I was a teenager. Whenever I had good or bad news, it was just natural for...

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I must say Peter, I've had the most extraordinary day. It all started when I woke up this morning. I was brushing my teeth with this new toothpaste Pepsibrite and literally after just a few...

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Uncontainable

(Music playing)

“I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord
and I’ve been waiting for this moment, for all of my life, oh lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord,...

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Walking through the orchard 
Amongst so many trees
Fruit lay on the ground rotting
The trees had a strange disease

They were lost in their apathy
No longer fruitful anymore
Sheltered in a land of beauty
On the Okanagan shore

The birds...

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Everywhere she went
She sprinkled some ashes
Leaving a part of him
Releasing a bit more of her sadness
lessening that ache
as she celebrated him
remembering his goodness

I was not everywhere
still I took part in the ritual
releasing a bit of...

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Loaded up and gassed
Got a four-day pass
Ramblin' in the Rockies
...Coquihalla holiday

Crested o’er the pass
Hope the brakes’ll last
Needle Peak behind me
...Coquihalla holiday

Driver’s turnin’ pale
Down the Devil’s Tail
To Othello. It's a mother.
...Coquihalla holiday

Evening shadows fade
Running down grade
Almost...

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In sunny days of joy we climbed aboard, 
Wide eyed, Wellingtons and Duffels.
Sat on salty varnished benches,
handed weighted feathers and orange string.

Kraken was the one to know,
Six fish on a line would show you so.
We...

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There’s an ancient
thing of wisdom
in a cavern
in the sea;
deep down in murky waters
lying, sleeping peacefully.

At times it will awaken
take a travel-contemplation
or perhaps a short vacation
to collect new wisdom-seeds.

Sometimes it peeks
out from beneath
those liquid silvery waves;
then...

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Thunder and lightning 
Without any rain
Spells big trouble 
Here we go again

Our spring flooding season 
Has barely came to an end
Wildfire season is now here
So hard to comprehend 

The firefighters scramble
The helicopters are in flight
All...

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There’s an ancient
Thing of wisdom
In a cavern
In the sea;
Deep down in murky waters
Lying, sleeping peacefully.

At times it will awaken
Take a travel-contemplation
Or perhaps a short vacation
To collect new wisdom-seeds.

Sometimes it peeks
Out from beneath
Those liquid silvery waves;
Then...

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The window guys came to install the new glass. They took away the old glass that had become filled with moisture. The seals had failed, the result of nineteen years of Okanagan sun beating down...

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They say, “Nessie is dead”, 
because there haven’t been sightings, for years.
Ogopogo still lives, as does M’okele M’bembe.
What if they are one in the same?

Oceans, caves and caverns,
are spanning the globe; 
what lies within its...

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Awaken taste buds  



 Lovely Linda 
 Makes food tasty
 Um um good 

 Peach Chipotle BBQ Sauce 
Your taste buds won’t 
Be the same 
Chipotle is the one to blame.

Peach & Apple Salsa
Time...

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