absolutely brilliant poetry.

"B o d y i s t o s p i r i t"
Laurance Wieder

Body is to spirit
As cloth is to body
Grown to its own size:
Room is in the air,
Air is in the weave.
Waves in the breeze.
The earth spins and
Things come to an end.
So, day and night,
A body blooms
At its own hour.
Stretch the pause
Through the sky.
Or float -- muted banner --
Signs, no designs.

Signs, no designs.
Or float -- muted banner --
Through the sky.
Stretch the pause
At its own hour.
A body blooms
So, day and night,
Things come to an end.
The earth spins and
Waves in the breeze.
Air is in the weave.
Room is in the air,
Grown to its own size:
As cloth is to body
Body is to spirit.

if only golden skin was this natural..

I think it's time to remember.

Lets take the song I'm listening to, for instance. Elevator Love Letter by Stars. My most vivid memory with this song would have to be that one time in grade nine, when Brendan Pociuch stopped to chat with Taryn and I. He may have had some other friend with him, and he was carrying an instrument of some sort, but those details have obviously been overlooked. I had Taryn's iPod, and I switched it to this song. For some bizarre reason, as I was listening to the song and watching their mouths move, I just burst out laughing. Into one of those laughs that you really can't stop if you tried your very hardest, the rib aching, monsterous kind of laughs that makes you giddy for hours. I remember being happy.
Haha! Or this one, I Am In Love With You by Imogen Heap. It was in ELA class when I heard it for the first time. I've been a fan of Imogen Heap since that one intense moment on the OC...but I hadn't heard this particular song. Katie, who I sit in front of, lent me an earphone. I remember thinking the song sounded ridiculous, but only because I was hearing half of it. The room seemed to disappear for a second though, as I got lost in the insane techno beats. I remember being free.
Oooh man, Shame On You by Hot Hot Heat. This song brings me right back to the summer of 2005. I can recall belting this song out at the top of my lungs on the phone with Taryn, and also singing along to it as I was blinded by the neon lights on the Cokestage. I remember hearing this song for the first time too, at my mom's house. I didn't like them at first, at all, but that's usually the case with most of my favourite bands. It's a good one though, absolutely. Running with scissors wasn't smart, I tripped and cut open your heart, I didn't mean to but I seem to have pushed us back to the start..I remember having fun.
AW! This song almost brings tears to my eyes at the simple dream that my sweetheart will be crooning it to me one day, pored over his beat-up guitar. Mmph. It's Goo Goo Dolls with Iris. I think my most vivid memory with this one would have to be at the first pep rally I've ever attended. The bell accidentally went off, and it just happened to be this song that rang out through the gym. I don't recall who was talking, or what was even happening, but I glanced up behind me at the bleachers full of students, my heart broke into a million little pieces. A huge cluster of them were swaying back and forth and singing the lyrics, confidently and ever-so-sweetly. It's just one of those moments...you know? I remember being united.
Oh boy, here's a classic. Speaking of the OC, California by Phantom Planet. So many amazing and heart-wrenching episodes have begun with this to-the-point tune. We're in California, we are who we are, we're going to have some fun with a side of drama. Easy-peasy. I've also belted this song out to Taryn over the phone, doing the whole Califoooooooorniaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa thing over and over until I got it right in one lungful. Haha! Another fun time connected with this song would be at Calaway Park, the day that Maggie, Kayla, Katie, Taryn and I went. This was one of the many songs implanted in my brain then, and Taryn mistook 'Phantom Planet' for Vampire Planet, and Phantom Vampire. We were sitting outside of the Cotton Candy stand. I remember the strangest things..
Thinking about it, Telescope Eyes by Eisley actually does have some meaning to me. At first I was about to blow it off, but on my looong drive to BC in May, it shuffled onto my iPod. Instantaneously, Matt Leung popped into my head. If you listen to the lyrics, you'll know why. In the moment, in that situation, it all made sense. I tend to remember people a lot.
Oh of course. My alltime favourite song, New Slang by The Shins. I'm not even going to list the thousands of times this song has picked me up from the complete slumps. Instead, I'll tell you about the first time my ears got to bask in this delectable, delicious harmony. It had to have been at least three years ago. I was sitting in my living room, on my couch, watching The Wedge. At the time, I was into obscure music that made no sense whatsoever, and that made me think, and escape to some strange..musical vortex. Shut up. I know it sounds incredibly lame but I'm not even going to lie. That's what it was! My brain seemed to stop as I sat and took in the song, every chord and hummed lyric..it changed me. It spoke to me. And many years later, it was the theme of my favourite movie. Fate? Who knows. I remember that moment.

I think I'm done as far as remembering goes tonight. I love my life. Almost as much, I love my memories, and even though I'm not ready to leave this city yet, I'm definitely not done making them here.

please take a moment to ..

picture this:

You are disoriented, shivering and you feel extremely uncomfortable. You are slowly walking through a pitch-black tunnel. It is not a happy place. You do not know how you got here, why you are here, or how you are going to get out of here. You just know that you want to be safe.

There is a click to your left. Two firm hands take your shoulders and shove you into a dim, dank room. It smells of metal and a strong cleaning liquid of some sort, one that you recognize but cannot place. The room has four walls and a simple tiled floor. The only heat and light source shines from a single incandescent light bulb screwed into a ceiling socket. It is barely on, a thought runs through your mind that it might almost be dead. It gives you an uneasy feeling, as if you can relate. You take a glance around you. The floor feels solid under your feet. You take a step forward. There is a faint buzz and suddenly the entire room is engulfed in a blinding white flash, and what seems to be thousands of ticking clocks are exposed. The sound is deafening. Each clock is set to a different time. The monster of a grandfather clock facing you on a diagonal is placed at 9:20. The analog on the shelf to your right reads 10:53. An old school alarm clock is defiantely sporting a '2:51'. There are no windows. Your head swivels around to glance at each clock. They all have a glaze, as if they've been polished with a dirty rag. Taking a closer look at a few clocks on the walls, you find that they are firmly bolted in place. In an attempt to relocate a large coffee table slash clock, you also find that it is secure. There has to be at least three hundred clocks and watches and time-tellers crammed into this single room. There is barely enough room for you to sit down in the dead center of the room, yet you can easily manouver through the spaces inbetween the clocks. 8:42. 1:03. 3:16. Time seemed to be of the essence, the seconds were slipping by, the minutes passing.

You took a minute to think to yourself. Where do the seconds go after they have fulfilled their purpose? Each moment of time is lived, then discarded. As far as we know, it's impossible to go back in time and relive or recapture or fix our mistakes. The time is just passing by, like a friend in the neighborhood or a carefree butterfly on a drowsy summer day. As you inch through the rows of clocks, you spot an hour-glass precariously hiding behind a shelf. Examining it closer, you notice that it has not been dusted or polished in what seems to be years. There is a thick layer of grime covering it's surface. You try to unveil the glass, but you just end up smearing the dirt around. The suspense is killing you. Is there any sand at all trapped within the glass? Is it at the bottom? Stuck at the top? Filled completely? How much time is left? Has time stopped?

You take a strong hold of one end of the hour-glass and swiftly turn it around. In an instant, one blink of an eye, the ticking stops. Your heartbeat seems to stop with it. There is a voice...


'Take all time into extreme consideration. You do not know how much of it you have left to spend. Enjoy every second of life that you can to it's fullest extent. Always breathe deeply and let the ones you love know how much you love them. Use these moments, these precious moments, to smile. Laugh. Learn as much as you can. Never lose sight of what is important to you. This moment could be your last.'