sun muun

 the door may be closed

defensive syntax on guard

above cold foreign soil

invested chinese swamp

 or blank as a renouncement

barring prejudicial flames

the colour lines were drawn

and yet they are re-crossed

 a single character marks

a half number retreated

to consolations unknown

behind the multilocked door

 perhaps they soon shall pass

more inscrutable as always

but never going very far

from portals so hard won

for all the ancient societies

of the persistent secret orders

will leak a welcome of sorts

to those who can open doors

strathcona:: tree shadows

On this first warm sunny day of spring [finally!] I went in search of some fitfully artful tree shadows - and other ephemeral exuberances...

Zig-zagging through the old Strathcona neighbourhood on my bike, the flower buds were literally popping open by the minute in the bright sunshine and the abstract sillhouettes of the still leafless tree branches shifted coyly with the sun - a profusion of intricate skiagrams on textured walls and painted surfaces, animating the quaintly charming houses on these most tranquil of inner city streets...

The ethereal blue dome of the Russian Orthodox church on Campbell Street merges with a clear blue sky through a veil of darkly lacing branches and a cascade of fresh spring foliage...

The first blossoms burst into bloom on this old cherry tree and the soft pink petals riff off the fading pink portico of this building on Keefer Street...

chinatown remains

It has been much too long since I have been down to Vancouver's Chinatown and really take notice of the upscale changes going on as well as sadly, what is still barely clinging on...

The establishment of well-funded vanity projects in art galleries, stylish lounges and uptown priced

cuisine nouvelle-chinoise contrasts even more starkly with what remains of a once bustling enclave of working-class chinese culture and commerce...

On a late winter afternoon, as the sun dips low behind the buildings and the street lamps begin to turn on, I walk the few blocks of East Georgia Street, Keefer Street and East Pender Street where the majority of the shoppers are still Asian but just not as unrepentantly chic in dress as the few non-Asians making their way to be seen in the uplifted high brow cool spots...