A Room of My Own: September Sizzle Haiku

No More Fairy Tales, XXIII

this stillness

between a black bear and me

September sizzle

FYI: In recent years, bear sightings have been increasing in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Guelph, London and other parts of southwestern Ontario.

And also CBC News, August 5: Bears, bears, everywhere in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, as animals come to the city seeking food

It seems almost anywhere you go in Prince George right now, you might run into a black bear.

"We usually only have rare sightings. Now it is a daily occurrence."

The animals tend to be very site-specific, she says, moving to where food can be found.

Bowinn Ma, B.C.'s minister of emergency management and climate readiness, said at a press conference this week that parts of the province are seeing berry crop failure due to unprecedented drought, and that may be driving bears into cities seeking food.

That could be the case in Prince George, which had an unusually early spring and has sustained the highest average temperature on record for weeks, leading to Saskatoon berries and blueberries ripening and drying out weeks earlier than usual.

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, X

this millionaire

flips house after house ...

not quite 30

and already his smile 

wider than Charlie Chaplin's

FYI: The Chaplin smile is unusual, produced by a muscle that most people can’t move deliberately. Charlie Chaplin could, for this smile, in which the lips angle upward much more sharply than they do in the felt smile, was his hallmark. It is a supercilious smile that smiles at smiling... excerpted from "The Science of Smiling" by Paul Ekman, psychologist and co-discoverer of micro expressions

And for more about character tanka, see To the Lighthouse: Character/Persona Tanka

Added: No More Fairy Tales, XXIV

Brazil cyclone

Europe floods and another

Earth heat record ....

the more I read, the more I'm stuck

in a corner of my mindscape

FYI: The American Psychological Association and ecoAmerica have defined eco-anxiety (aka climate anxiety) as “a chronic fear of environmental doom.” This fear can stem from direct experience of extreme weather events and environmental change (e.g., floods, forest fires, hurricanes, drought) or exposure to climate change information through news media and other sources... excerpted from Mental Health Commission of Canada, "Understanding and Coping with Eco-Anxiety," Apr 21, 2023

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XI

O Canada! Our home and native land!

leather-bound volumes

of parliamentary debates

stacked on shelves...

PM looks out the window

at pop-up tents on the street

your home, my home 

we're united for our common home

let's bring it home ....

the opposition leader chants 

to the clicking of cameras

FYI: CTV News, September 8: Pierre Poilievre pitches 'common sense' as Conservative policy convention kicks off, delegates energized

And Press progress, September 5: Big Real Estate Executives Among Top Donors to Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.

Executives at big real estate companies profiting off and even driving up high real estate prices across Canada are listed as donors to the federal Conservative Party, Elections Canada records show.