Hosed
The familiar quotation is attributed to Bette Davis. The exact wording varies but is along the lines of “Old age is no place for sissies.” How right she was. As body parts reach their best-before dates, curious and unwelcome failures start occurring. Even though people are healthier and vigorous for more years than ever before,...
Alarming
© Photographer Angelo (italia) | Agency: Dreamstime.com He’s back. One of my favourite humorous writers has sent another poem. We’re surrounded by things that beep. The irritating sound is meant to alert us to some problem or other. Here’s what happened to Sterling Haynes. Beep — Beep — Beep — Beep I am becoming an...
Why blogging matters to me
On December 30 Michael Dahl posed two questions in the title of his blog post on Speak for We: “Does blogging matter? Does it create change?” He was responding to the question David Henderson posed to himself that same day: “Does Blogging Matter in the Social Sector?” I promised to comment on Michael’s post but...
Mommy Brain
Years as a country doctor, in Alabama and in B.C.’s central interior, gave Sterling Haynes insight into the gritty reality of his women patients. He also fathered four strong, independent, amazing daughters—who are also a reflection of his equally strong, independent, and amazing wife, Jessie. When he sent me this poem, he wrote: “Until women...
Looking at youth and feeling hope
In June 2010 Tom Wayman was in Kelowna, doing a reading from his newly published novel, Woodstock Rising. At the end someone asked him what he thought was the legacy of the Woodstock era. His answer was, “hope”. He said young people now know so much more than we did, but they have no hope....
The One Thing We Don’t Have
Multiple sclerosis is a thief, an autoimmune disease that breaks into the brain and spinal cord, stealing the life those of us who have—so far—escaped such chronic health inroads consider “normal”. No one writes about it more eloquently than Denise Brownlie. She blogs for MS Village, which graciously allowed Catching Courage to republish this post. ...
Down…East Hastings Street – Vancouver, B.C.
Regular visitors to Catching Courage will be familiar with the poetry of Sterling Haynes, who writes with both humour and compassion. Anyone who has walked the grey streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside will understand the gritty reality behind this poem. My head is wound with hemp, I walk in the downpour and in the gutters....
Panhandlers do not grow up dreaming of panhandling
Mark Horvath used to be invisible, back when he was homeless. He knows what it’s like when people pass by without acknowledging his humanity. Now he has a home, work, and the drive to rip away the cloak of invisibility that makes our neighbours disappear to us when they fall on hard times. He is...
Love and acceptance
We had a cat, my mother, brother and I. She was one of many animals who paraded through my childhood. This one was special, a pure-bred Siamese. I have no memory of how we acquired such a beauty. We would never have had money to buy her. But there she was, chocolate nose, paws and...
We have met the enemy, and he leans right
This is a departure from my usual posts, but it’s been bugging me. And what do writers do when something’s bugging them? They write about it. Pogo used to be my favourite source of cartoon satire. The lead character was Pogo Possum, a generous, philosophical sort whose most famous line was, “We have met the enemy,...
Names Matter
Preparing for the first day of 5th grade, in a school new to me, I made a resolution. From that day forward I would be called by my given name. “Cathy” is a perfectly fine nickname, but I preferred the name I was granted at birth, “Cathryn”. Mother drove me to school and introduced me...
Reaching for the brass ring
Watching someone reaching for the brass ring always intrigues me. We can ride along comfortably and manage a reasonably satisfying life, but if we dare stretch in the direction of our riskier passions we have to leave the easy path. Writers, musicians, artists and actors know this. So do athletes and scientists. And so do...
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