It’s all over but the crying.

I’m crying tears of joy.

Laughed so hard I pissed my pants.

Which really can annoy.

It’s not that it’s so funny

It’s just I’m laughing at you.

It’s so damn off putting.

When the tears have dried we’re through.

” This world is made for 50 year old men. ”

His voice rose above the stares and destain of the feminists and millennials who strained to see who dared make such a claim.

I thought it difficult to argue, remembering having that very thought in my twenties which was quickly followed with, ‘ah but they don’t have my youth.’

I doubt if either last as long as we think it will.

I watched him sink his aged face into his coffee and fade.

I had zero idea that my poverty ridden humble start in life could someday somehow be viewed as white privilege.

My single mother making $10/week plus room and board working 7 days a week would have little knowledge of her esteemed advantages.

Who knew?

She said, “They had it coming. “

I asked, “They got what they deserved?”

I asked her where she heard that?

Her smile kinda curved.

I said, “You know you’re only 8 years old.”

She said, “You know I’m almost nine.”

Sometimes I need to listen.

So I just took it as a sign.

There once was a protester named Karen.

She’s protesting and hating and glarin.

She’s making things right.

Not her fault she’s white.

She’s just so damn smart and she’s sharin.

Dennis Mantin

There once was a dancer named Wayne

Who walked with a limp from his pain.   

He’d dance day and night.        

His insanity his plight.

Said, “The light in the tunnel it’s a train.”

                     

                              

All smiles are fading, an all knowing wink. 

There’s miles to go now. It’s swim now or sink.

She’s hugging the monsters. Dragging them down.

She’s sharing her love.They’re learning to drown.

The streets now are empty, it’s friday downtown.

The monsters are running. Love come to town.

Once was an alcoholic named Rick.

Who sometimes called himself Dick.

Put down the booze.

It’s your name you choose.

Richard, can you cease being a prick?

Once was a girl who quit it cold turkey.

All that smoking and puffing didn’t quite workie.

She’d rage day and night…

About being happy and right.

In the end we all thought her quite quirky.

Dennis Mantin was born in Toronto in 1958. However, he grew up in rural Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, where he was introduced to painting and literature.

Mantin left the east coast for Alberta in 1980 and landed a job as a nude model at the Banff School of Fine Arts with acclaimed American Painter and Sculpter Eric Fischl. Meeting Fischl opened his feelings and eyes to really seeing color and tone; even in the most unexpected places.

In 1992, after having returned to Toronto, Mantin dedicated himself to painting and had the good fortune to meet the extraordinary Canadian poetic Painter Paul Fournier, which ignited a lifelong creative friendship. With Fournier’s mentoring, Dennis mounted his first solo exhibition in an antique store in The Beaches neighborhood of Toronto.

After a decade of painting and exhibitions, raising a family and life circumstances forced Mantin to give his attention elsewhere.

In May of 2014, Mantin renewed his relationship with painting and was invited to share Paul Fournier’s studio, which culminated in a solo exhibition at the Abbozzo Gallery at 401 Richmond Street. The exhibition was called The Meditation and alluded to Mantin’s recent interest and dedication to the practice and study of mindfulness Meditation.

While working on The Meditation, Mantin was encouraged to reexamine his writings, which stimulated a revision of a short screenplay from 20 years earlier.

The short film, a 15-minute drama entitled The Meditation, was written, directed, and produced by Mantin in 2017 and featured world renowned actor Jonathan Hyde of the Royal Shakespearen Academy. Jonathan won best supporting actor at the Top Shorts Online Film Festival, and Dennis received an honorable mention for narrative at the same festival. The film received the Award of Excellence from the Canada Shorts Film Festival in 2017.

Dennis started his WordPress blog in 2013 and has over 2000 posts in the decade that followed.

In the autumn of 2023, Dennis will publish his first novel, ‘LOOK THEM IN THE EYES’ with Canadian publisher Friesen Press.

Dennis is a single father, currently living in Toronto with his 12 years old daughter Zylia and their cat Ned.

Dennis Mantin