the sounds of October
(for Roy)
street arrivals
part of the transition
brewing anchor & rhythm ride
here and now, engaged with play
details trickle down a making
rooted in history
to return line, to walk with,
to express some thing
as small moments light faith’s senses, within
in memory of sharing
this mystery of street and the gifts
of open sea . . .
XO,
A very dear friend, Roy Miki, passed away on Saturday morning, October 5, 2024.
His passing is a loss that is, and will be, felt deeply by all those who knew him and whose lives were enriched by his presence, by his gentle and generous soul, and by his caring and critical mind and heart.
Roy was a poet, a deep thinker, a worker for justice, a person with many achievements and accolades (which you can read about on various sites, online, if you don’t already know of them), and such a dear friend.
I kept wondering what I could do to honour Roy and our friendship. My instinct was to go out text walking. It was as if I could hear him reminding me to be with my practice, as one way to find some comfort, and also as a way to be in conversation with him, again. Whether having an in person visit together, or through back and forth emails, or works shared with each other, one thing that was a constant in our friendship is that our conversations always came back to talking about our projects and creative practices. Anyways, that’s how I found myself out text walking again, in my neighbourhood of the Beltline here in Calgary. Although I didn’t really know whether a poem would actually surface from the photographs of text that I took on that walk, I thought that if nothing else, at least I’d get out for a walk. And I figured Roy would appreciate that and he’d understand that this was my way of honouring him.
The poem above is what surfaced. It was written using words found and photographed on my text walk… on that walk with Roy.