Art is everywhere, if you choose to look.
Lately, as the weather becomes a slightly more pleasurable each day, I am taking the opportunity to get back out on the streets of Toronto to observe what really happens here.
Last Thursday, on the way to an appointment, I was fortunate to notice something I had never seen before.
Just about any day you’ll find Ross Ward hunched over on Yonge Street tending to his art. The ‘Birdman of Toronto’ has been a fixture on these streets in various locations for well over a decade, and during each day he crafts, and sells, palm-sized birds.
Once only a hobby — this is now more than whittling — Ward carves out shapes of common birds from reclaimed wood. There is always a piece in progress, and always a small flock for sale on his concrete workspace.
Perhaps in our day-to-day journeys, we don’t look close enough at all the people. We don’t often observe enough to see art just happening here and there on our landscape. I’ve wandered this street how many times and only last week did I notice the man. I saw him again on the weekend.
Appreciating the beauty of his work, I bought a bird as a gift for someone . . . or maybe a souvenir for myself to one day remember my time in this city.
Couldn’t we all use more memorable hand-made art?
I Can Smell Spring
Today’s rain washed away most
of the evidence of winter.
The water has spilled over the river’s banks
but is receding.
The air is fragrant
with the change of season.
Maybe it is because the dust has settled for a bit
but I could smell spring as I walked the streets.
At one point, this afternoon, it was like nighttime
in the middle of the day,
the windshield wipers kept time
to the rhythm of life.
This evening, however, just after the sun had
disappeared altogether, low-lying clouds
hovered just above
and in patches.
Stars shone through the clouds
like freckles on a lover’s skin, peeking out of the
crisp sheets.
Spring brings optimism
and hope.
You hear people on the streets again,
they too are pleased.
Just wait for summer.
I can feel peace,
can you?
© 2006 j.g. lewis
Image: Wet Prairies
Artist: Steve Repa – 1977
Ten years ago, in a journal, I wrote this for my daughter. An early spring then,
as it is now. Seasons may change, but poetry remains, as does optimism and hope.