It’s only got one eye, the storm does.
So hard to sketch when it keeps on blinking.
I tell it to hold its pose so I can get the details of its iris,
its sclera, the reflections in its cornea,
but it doesn’t hold still for the simple reason that storms don’t hold still.
It doesn’t care about my well-being.
It makes a scene.
Topples trees and scares dogs.
Throws a fit to get what it wants.
(And who knows what it wants.)
I draw its portrait nonetheless.
Its strengths and flaws.
I draw it in a cloudy dress, its fury paused
on the page.
So beautiful, so cruel.
I confess I wish to capture its cold soul
in a bottle of ink.
I think the darkness suits it.
• • •
To read the rest of this review — and more by Steve Schmolaris — visit his website Bad Gardening Advice.
• • •
Steve Schmolaris is the founder of the Schmolaris Prize, “the most prestigious prize in all of Manitoba,” which he first awarded in 1977. Each year, he awards the prize to the best album of the year. He does not have a profession but, having come from money (his father, “the Millionaire of East Schmelkirk,” left him his fortune when he died in 1977), Steve is a patron of the arts. Inspired by the exquisite detail of a holotype, the collective intelligence of slime mold, the natural world and the suffering inherent within it — and also music (fuck, he loves music!) — Steve has long been writing reviews of Winnipeg artists’ songs and albums at his website Bad Gardening Advice, leading to the publication of a book of the same name.
