Moments
Category Archive

An Impromptu Circus

By Joshua Chalifour, 3 May 2009

A triangle of trees were lassoed with tough ropes. Each trunk, encircled with a padded harness, held itself stoically to the ground. Two men bounced, wobbled, and periodically traversed the rope between trees with grace. One floppy, determined child tried. Outside the triangle of tightropes, a woman practiced spinning a large hoop in a series [...]

Direction Giver

By Joshua Chalifour, 6 April 2009

I jaywalked diagonally from one sidewalk to the other. At 7:30 in the morning traffic is light. But I hadn’t noticed others on the sidewalk. Except for a well-bundled family, which walked up the hill I was going down. A tall husband, wife, and their two children. The man made eye contact with me and [...]

Montreal Roof at 7, Réveillé

By Joshua Chalifour, 15 February 2009

Redless black morning chimney mount;
a two-dimensional relief
stamped on white-blue sky.
With ventilated hat,
in brick composure
the ragged outline of domestic industry
stands upright, dormant
while altocumulus float beyond,
sunrise igniting their pink.

Thirty-Four Twenty-Threes

By Joshua Chalifour, 23 September 2008

Starting this project, I had no idea where it would go.
Yet on days like today, I joke that I’m almost there.
No doubt I’ll make it, once almost there won’t be.
Happy birthday, me.

Two Fellows Disagreeing over Reconciliation

By Joshua Chalifour, 16 October 2007

Two fellows argued near a phone. One of them, greying hair, a turpentine diluted blue cardigan, gestured with both hands. The other rolled his eyes up and tilted his head sideways. He made fleeting eye contact and though not the elder, he was the taller. They spoke urgently, probably not clearly but I was too [...]

All Possible Objects

By Joshua Chalifour, 29 May 2007

A moment reflecting on the gaze of amazement

Eye-to-Eye

By Joshua Chalifour, 7 March 2007

When he was a boy, he’d accompany one parent or another to banks, convenience stores, hardware stores, places queueing people to exchange money for whatever it was worth. He’d stand by the counter waiting to be noticed. Sensible, he waited in line, not interrupting, rocking from heel to toe to heel. Sometimes grownups pushed ahead [...]

Breath Wanders, Wonder Visits

By Joshua Chalifour, 31 January 2007

One morning, driving along the river, outside my neighbourhood, I witnessed the rapid welcome of a brilliant, melancholy, antique cloud. It descended at an angle from the unlimited above, with its measure of a western direction. I wanted to stop. At 7:00 in the morning with no temperature, few people appear on the street. A [...]

An Inclusion of Strangers because of a Dog’s Joke

By Joshua Chalifour, 1 July 2006

A surprising inclusion happened during a brief moment on a small corner of sidewalk. As Heather and I walked toward the cross-street, a couple walked toward us. A woman stood on the sidewalk, facing her shop’s window. Its overflowing wooden rectangle of flowers drooped a degree toward the street. She kept a hose running lightly [...]