About

My blog concentrates on all my P’s: Paintings, People, Philosophy, Photos, Places, Pleasanteries, Poems, and Privilege.

Paintings
I used “paintings” in the broadest sense because, alas, I can neither paint nor draw.  My lines are drawings that “take a line for a walk” and my colors, like those of Matisse, “serve as both form and content”. My cartoons (for that is how I think of them) are often linked to words with many double meanings, audio and visual; they bring humor to me and the world around me.

People
I write about the people who impinge upon my existence. Some of them real, some literary, and many of them are imagined and re-created in different forms and words from their actual realities.  People, formed from words, are the building bricks with which I have shared and shaped my life.

Philosophy
I am not a philosopher by any means, but I have over time developed a philosophy. It started with my studies of phenomenology and its extension into existentialism. Both these movements have influenced my life and my writing. Bakhtin’s chronotopos: “Man’s dialog with his time and place” has also been a great influence on my creative thinking. My art is indeed my dialog with my time and my place.

Photos
They come from everywhere that I have been, moments caught in the camera’s eye and frozen forever. They illustrate the life I have lived and the things I have seen … well, some of the things I have seen, anyway … photos and flashbacks, verbal and visual, are the phenomena around which my creative life is built.

Places
I haven’t traveled far, but I have always tried to travel deep. Avila (Spain), the Bay of Fundy and Island View (New Brunswick), Oaxaca (Mexico), PEI (Canada), Ste. Luce-sur-mer (PQ) … these have all left traces of themselves in the poems and paintings that appear on these pages.

Pleasanteries
I hesitate to call myself a comedian, let alone a verbal comedian, but I have a sharp tongue, a neat sense of humor, a clear view of what Camus calls the Absurd, and a love for double and deeper meanings. I particularly enjoy taking clichés from their accepted settings and giving them new emphasis and meaning.

Poems
I am a published, award-winning poet and short-story writer. I want to use this blog not only to publicize older poems, but to create new ones. I like to blend words and images in what I call “photo-poems” and the joining of words and poems to cartoons is a new step for me.

Privilege
Life has been good to me: hopefully I can share some of that goodness and bring a little bit of joy and happiness, light and laughter, to those of you who follow this blog. I will consider it an extra privilege if, through these pages, I can make new friends.

42 thoughts on “About”

  2. A while back, someone called me a writer. I said, I don’t think of myself as a writer, I’m an entertainer. I’ve been reading Bistro Two (purchased at WordSpring in Quispamsis). You are a writer. Your book has been a joy to read.

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    • Thank you so much, Colin. I appreciate your words very much indeed. All I can say is that I do my best ad I really enjoy my writing, just for the sheer pleasure of placing black (or blue or purple) marks on a white page and then reading them. Nowadays, I really never know what is going to come out! But I am still having marvelous fun. It was a pleasure meeting you again … next time I will give you my books … there is no need for you to purchase them, my friend.

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  3. Hello: I am discovering you as a poet because I have a special interest for KIRA. I marvel at the synergy and the chemistry happening among the five of you. And I am very much touched by your words – by the poetry, its feelings and images and also by how you have a very fine way to capture what is happening. Regards. Chantal Fortier, Ottawa.

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    • Thank you so much for this commentary. We are really enjoying ourselves and the art and creativity sharing is working wonders on each and everyone of us. There is also a wonderful out reach into the community and that is so enriching. I am so pleased you are enjoying my poetry. I certainly enjoy the act of putting pen to paper. Best wishes, Roger.

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  4. Hello my friend! Well, I’ve done this much: changed my blog and begun the process of alerting my friends. I have determined to make needed changes to my novel and give it a new title. Nevertheless, a cooling off period is definitely in order. In the mean time I will reside in comfortable anonymity!

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    • Thank you so much for these kind words. I have been reading Sarah Bakewell’s At the Existentialist Café and have started to realize just how much phenomenology and its extension into existentialism have influenced my life and my writing. “Man’s dialog with his time and place” Bakhtin’s chronotopos. I guess that my “about” points to this, though I wasn’t sure about that conclusion when I first introduced myself. Good to see you here and may 2017 be a fruitful year for your writing.

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      • As a beginner I’m happy to be in a right place to learn other ideas, styles from other writers. 🙂 I’m looking forward to be doing great in my writing. Thank you.

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    • It is interestinthat you are friends with Vashti. She also has been a guest on the Scibbler and a keen author. I wish I could remember how we met, I think it was twitter. I’m enjoying your blog Roger.

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      • Thanks so much, Allan. It has been great fun and has helped me with the poetry revisions and with organizing my own critical thought process. I also like the process of blending art with words, verbal and visual. Great fun. I suppose I should take a page from your book and invite some guest bloggers. That would be fun, too.

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  12. I am happy I got to visit your blog. I got to “visit” with you a bit more today, and I really enjoyed meandering through all the P’s.
    Looking forward to reading more! 😀

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