Ellen Michelson

In the spring of 2024, the Toronto Heliconian Club hung writings in a visual arts show. You can see a little about that show below, under “Writing in an Art Show?” The show that opened October 31, 2026, “Harvest,” will also be open to the public 4-7p.m., Wednesday, November 11, (35 Hazelton Avenue, Bay TTC stop). Other writings besides a poem of mine are included, although most pieces are paintings or photographs, in a wide range of tones and styles. As I viewed the show today, I realized I’d never before smiled so much at an art show! Here’s my poem:

Seen
Honey-scented white alyssum,
caledula’s cream-yellow petals and gluey stems,
shrub-like orange velveteen cosmos with its serrated leaves,
all watered often enough that they sip diffidently, slowly.

Patience for the sips allows broader gazes,
beyond the big pot of flowers.
Mature trees, a mix of species,
so dense, so distant from the tenth-floor balcony,
they form a wide blur.

A small blur appears,
nears the open blooms that have grown
higher than the balcony rails.
A forceful, rapid, almost silent fluttering, grey-blue:
a hummingbird.

Perhaps a regular, relying on the blooms’ sweet nectar,
it hovers a bit from the blossoms,
above ten storeys of emptiness,
the only presence in the vast space before the trees.

Wrongly sensing danger from the watering-can wielder,
it decides to respect its fear rather than its thirst,
creates a flurry of wings,
vanishes,
leaving the memory of faint thrumming,
wariness,
speed,
the knowledge of witness to marvels of
delicacy and power.

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There’s a petition to Canada’s House of Commons, urging that legislation catch up with the needs of writers and other creators to be treated honestly and compensated fairly rather than continuing to tolerate the infringements of commercial use of artificial intelligence. The Writers’ Union of Canada and the Canadian Authors Association are among the organizations supporting this petition. I’ve just e-signed. You can, too. Here’s the link. https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-7774

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