By Gary Michael Dault

We fled Christmas this year,
My partner and I.
My children, now grown, are dispersed,
Remote from one another
And from me
For the first time.

This is a view from the window
Of the Bed and Breakfast
We booked for Christmas Eve
And Christmas Day.
It’s a view east along King Street
in Kingston,
Looking towards St. George’s Cathedral.
I grew up in Kingston.

There is a gas fire in the fireplace
Which, like the biblical burning bush,
Burns without ever consuming
The wood it feeds upon

Behind me, as I take this photo,
My partner lies draped over a big chair
Before the fire
Lost in one of the too-many books
She brought with her to read

I brought books too
But I can’t concentrate.
I wander around these vast rooms
Taking pictures out the windows.

King Street is wet
With the beginnings of snow


Gary Michael Dault
Kingston, December 25, 2006

1. Hello Gary
   It may be coincidental but I was just thinking about calling you to ask you to look at some new work in progress at Propeller on Queen Street. Then I saw your poem and realized you were enjoying a lovely break from Toronto in Kingston and proabably had your fill of looking at art! From your poem it seems that you are missing something. I get a sense of loneliness and perhaps a feeling of not knowing what to do with this free time that you are spending away from home and all that implies. I too have fled Christmas over the years.
   If you are in Toronto, my installation is on through December 31.
   All the best Lois

   Posted by  on  12/29  at  11:07 AM

2. Hi Gary:
   I liked your poem.
   It’s a bit sad – but Christmas isn’t always the happiest time of year. Lots of people find it difficult. Soon all my kids will be gone too and “remote…from me”. I treasure the time I have with them now.
   I thought it was a good idea to go to Kingston for the duration. The snow looks christmassy.

   Posted by  on  01/11  at  04:28 PM

3. Hi C.H.,
   Thanks for your tender comment. Everything you say is true and touching—except that I didn’t think the thing was all that sad. I missed my kids, yes, but I miss them all the time anyhow and, as it turns out, they were all very proud of me for having ventured into what was, for me, an entirely different kind of Christmas.
   As I told my partner, Malgorzata-who also thought the piece was “sad”-I think I was just being writerly. We actually had a lovely time!

   Posted by  on  01/11  at  05:14 PM

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