IWSG: The A-Z Challenge That Wasn’t

This is my first post for the Insecure Writer's Support Group.

I’ve been writing in one form or another much of my life.

Now that I’m retired, I’m finally going to write for me.

I’ve been carrying two books in my heart for decades,

and I’ve struggled off and on

with them both throughout this time.

How do I get what is in my heart and my head onto paper?

I also grapple with time management and computers.

That’s why I knew better than to sign up 

for the A-Z challenge in April.

Instead I wrote a short Alphabet Book for one of my books.

How elementary teacher is that?!

Its purpose was to identify personal images

that speak to me as I flounder 

through the muskeg of my mind.

I’m searching for my father

in the pages of his letters written in The North.

I’m trying to honor and balance his voice with mine.

I’m searching for the truth and wondering what I can reveal.

Dad, Louise, Roberta, Roy, Donalda, Barbara

Sioux Lookout, 1963

Attawapiskat Lake, Lansdowne House, 

Lac Seul, and Sioux Lookout

form the landscape of my early heart.

Lake Attawapiskat, Peninsula, and the Father's Island, 1961

I cannot let John, Fritz, Kokum, 
Maurice, Simon, Bobby 
and the unforgettable others 
who moved in and out of my life, vanish.  
I want to give voice to what has been lost in death.

Ray, Don, John, Sara, and Fritz

Hudson, Ontario 1976

A is for alcohol, a slow suicide

B is for bush plane, bringing everyone running

Bush Plane ~ Norseman
Nakina, 1960

C is for canoe, carrier of The North

D is for demons, tormenting generations

E is for education, that some seek no matter the cost

F is for fish, quicksilver flashing through mercurial waters

G is for government, and its tragic games

Parliament, Ottawa, Canada, 2012

H is for heart, hungry and broken

I is for isolation, the essence of the wilderness

J is for John

John, Lac Seul, 1961

K is for kerosene, lighting the dark

L is for letters, unlocking the past

My Father's Letters ~ Donald MacBeath

M is for marooned, in the black bush

N is for northern lights, coloring the night

O is for Oblates of Mary Immaculate, healing the world

 Father Ouimet, Donald MacBeath, 
Brother Bernier, Mr. Barker
Lansdowne House, 1960

P is for Parliament, and its politically expedient

Q is for quietude, the singular voice of the North

R is for radio, the link to The Outside

S is for ski-doo, the very first one

T is for train, and its Sandwich Man

Train ~ Nakina, 1960

U is for unlucky, because sometimes you just can’t win

V is for voyagers, who answer the call of the wild

Voyagers at Heart, My Brother Roy and I

Lake Attawapiskat, 1961

W is for water, running through everything

X is for xenophobia, and its cost

Y is for yearning, for even the dreamless dream

Z is for zero, above and below

Link for a map showing the location of Lansdowne House:  Lansdowne House google map