GLENN GOULD'S MUSIC IN DEEP SPACE

Sometimes it feels like that,

the sound of footsteps receding in snow,

and one forgets the loneliness of leaves in autumn. 

My mother madly painted while I was in the womb, 

the colors permeated, and crossed the membrane, 

and later I would be nostalgic for places 

I had never been to before. 

What accounts for a life of miracles? 

Early memories, or of things yet to come? 

Stacking wood, I think of how art 

has always been present in my life. 

Coming up with answers was always harder. 

Poets are always on the verge of tears, 

we could fill lakes haunted by music. 

Voyager has left our solar system,

carrying a gold record of Bach,
with Glenn Gould at the keyboard,
crooning into the folds of deep space.

Nov 3, 1995

added 11/17 minor revisions

I remember Boschka Layton talking of Glenn Gould, the brilliance of his conversations. He must've been a family, or childhood friend, for when he died, she was devastated. I remember Boschka's poem for Glenn Gould. Her family was quite extraordinary to draw so many interesting people to its bosom, Leonard Cohen, Irving Layton, and of course, Donnie Sutherland's fame comes from that bosom as well. 

In the character who played Glenn Gould, I heard Donald Sutherland's accent, his voice trilled in the ear, but it was not him. It serve to spark this memory of Boschka, or Betty Sutherland, as she was known as, and Glenn Gould.

Funny how memory works like that, and I was wanting more information but she is dead these past 14 years. She would've enjoyed this movie, and I watch it for her, remembering all the silly things we used to talk about.

Irving must've gotten ahold of some of my letters to Boschka, or did they send her papers to him later? I received a form letter from McGill University wanting to put my letters to Boschka into Irving's archives, his literary estate. And I am such a very minor footnote.