The Sunshine lit me up today 

There was talk again of rain.

They were chatting about the weather.

I rolled my eyes again.

The fever overtook me.

Doc said, “You’re doing something right.”

If I stop listening to opinions.

The future might look bright.

I’m all beauty and forgiveness.

Just a shiny ray of light.

Sending out the memo.

To all snowflakes here tonight.

I never really knew the way.

Now I am that tall.

I was there before your rise.

Your disgust and your appall.

Your trademark was your smile.

And your teeth so pearly white.

I saw you at your trial.

You failed to my delight.

Marcus wrote, ‘When you arise in the morning think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive-to breathe, to think, to enjoy and to love. ‘

Now there’s a meditation.

It might be important to note that Mr Aurelius was the last of what was considered to be in Rome…

‘The 5 Good Emporers. ‘ A period of about 200 years that ended in 180 A.D.

Marcus was also a Stoic Philosopher.

We are here again filming something.

And I have to admit I really don’t get what all the attraction is about…

One of the 7 wonders of the world! Really? I remember my cousins coming here for their Honeymoon. You could see their disappointment whenever they were forced to speak of it.

“And where did you go on your honeymoon?”

You stare at it for a minute or 2 and turn around to look for something else, almost anything!

Is this why people were jumping over the falls in barrels? Spicing up there experiences? OR Having seen a supposed wonder of the world they just said, enough! ENOUGH ALREADY!

Maybe it’s just me…

Dennis Mantin

Vacation is over.

Work has returned.

The green is the clover.

So much to have learned.

I work and I play.

No singing no dance.

There is always a way.

When given a chance.

I’ve been listening to Jordan Peterson

He’s been stumbling up that hill.

Being pushed by ancient wisdoms.

And the left have had their fill.

The left are stuck on stupid.

And they try with all their might.

You can’t teach what you don’t know.

Such a gift to bring to light.

We were working in Cayuga. Standing by the river Grand.

An ostrich came by looking sad. Stuck her head there in the sand.

Then a swan came swooping in, and started digging for her stash.

Then a bum just woke me up and started asking me for cash.

I realized I dreaming, in the sweet air of Cayuga night.

Why we work these ungodly hours. Sick of saying that it’s not right.

I’ve heard it said that a picture is worth 1000 words.

The boy in the center holding ‘Chico’ is Laddie.

Laddie was the name my mother gave me I think because I was named after my father and she didn’t want to think about him or utter his name.

This photo would have been taken months after I had fallen 51 feet from a railroad bridge. No bones were broken, but I had a concussion. The kind of head injury that if my feet hit the ground to hard when I walked it felt like something was smashing into my brain.

I have no memory of this time other than the headaches and walking quietly and gingerly as if walking on eggshells. I lived in a very small farming community and whenever people saw me coming they would give me a wide berth. No one wanted to bump into the boy who fell over the railroad bridge for fear he would break.

I carried ‘Chico’ with me everywhere then as kind of a comfort I guess and yet this is the only photo I have to prove he ever existed.

Even the other kids didn’t tease me to my face about carrying a doll because they had been warned not to bother me. They thought I was all busted up inside. They used to tease me about being called Laddie but not during this time. In fact no one spoke to me at all. They just stared. Laddie had to fall off the bridge to get some peace and quiet.

The infant on my right and toddler on my left are my cousins Steven and Kimball. They were visiting my mother and I from Cape Breton.

I visited them both this summer and they are both fathers now and they both still call me Laddie.

I could get to 1000 words but… I’ll get there eventually.

Dennis Laddie Mantin

She was blonde and she was beautiful.

I knew I’d lose my mind.

I was looking for distraction.

Her smile not hard to find.

It ended on the freeway.

Behind a flatbed truck.

She was screaming some obscenities.

And I was out of luck.

I sensed in you an anger, not at anyone; but in and at everything that you had become… a failure, a disappointment. You had even lost the will to speak. Your cold stares into nothingness are if nothing else, unsettling. Your plans and words for dreams of future endeavors have passed like a fart in a windstorm and now you feel what? Anger? Fuck that!

Sometimes you just have to drop back 30 yards and punt that into the past and keep it there. It’s ok to dream a little and it’s ok to fall short.

Just keep moving. Push forward. Enjoy the ride…

I have to remind myself of these things every now and then.

Dennis Mantin