A Room of My Own: Sound of Surviving

Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XVIII

I deliver

four rapid jabs, then a right

at my rival ...

the blood dripping off

my shadow on the wall

another

defeat by greedflation

and rent hike ...

I yell out, I want to feel

alive in this broken world

FYI: The last two lines allude to the following poem, “Invitation” by Mary Oliver

it is a serious thing

just to be alive

on this fresh morning

in the broken world.

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XIX

brick bungalows

with sea-green roofs and skylights

now gut-renovated ...

three blocks away, migrants move 

in and out of rooming houses

Added: Re-Homing in the Maple Land, XX

this riot

of colorful blooms ...

at the corner

of my neighbor's garden

a sign: backyard suite for rent

(Note: XIX and XX are integrated into the following tanka sequence:

O Canada! Our home and native land!

this riot

of colorful blooms ...

at the corner

of my neighbor's garden

a sign: backyard suite for rent

brick bungalows

with sea-green roofs and skylights

now gut-renovated ...

three blocks away, migrants move 

in and out of rooming houses

clothes flap on the line

and whales breach through blue waves ...

four new temps

in the second-story window 

of a saltbox house

wave upon wave 

of prairie grass cascading

over the hillside

a rented cabin, my new home

in this promised land 

FYI: In Feb., 2022, a new ruling made it officially legal for Toronto residents to build "backyard or garden suites" (a little bigger and more furnished than the outdoor/yard sheds one can buy in The Home Depot) as a "form of housing" (because of the crisis of affordable rental housing)

And usually built between 1800 and 1850 in Newfoundland and Labrador, a saltbox house has two stories in the front but one in the back,  giving it an uneven roof that is steeper one side).

Added: Game Show, 2024, XLI

chants of USA!

listen, repeat after me

ge-ron-to-cra-cy

FYI: Pew Research Center, 118th Congress (with only 10% -- 20% approval ratings) of the Oldest democratic country: The Senate’s median age is 65.3 years and the House's median age is 57.9 years. And in total, 98% of all incumbents were re-elected; most Big Shot Politicians are close to or over 80-year-old.