Columns

Porkpie Hat – The Palace of Love: A Cautionary Tale

The Empress of Love is sitting on her throne in her distant palace. The walls of the palace are made of cellophane and tinsel and paper as white as snow. The full moon (the moon is always full in this strange land) creates a pen-and-ink drawing of the heavily wooded imperial gardens. The gardens are… Read more »

From Where I Sit – Escapism at its Finest

There’s a good chance Roy and I were the whitest people at the Mexican resort when we arrived January 31. As we departed one week later, not much had really changed. At least not colour-wise. We had slathered on the SPF 60 sunscreen and sought out umbrellas and other shade structures. I realize this sounds… Read more »

From Where I Sit – Seeing is Believing

One of the premises explored in the bestseller The Secret was the idea of visualization. Visualization is touted as one of the steps to manifesting reality. Like everything else in the book, this is not news. Athletes have used this strategy for years to rehearse and pre-play award-winning performances. Visualization largely occurs in one’s head,… Read more »

Porkpie Hat – The Story

An old woman sits down at a desk with a battered typewriter, the same one she has used since she was a young girl. The desk she sits at is made from the wood of coffins and the boards of a sunken ship. She sits down in front of the typewriter, and begins to record… Read more »

Porkpie Hat – Dog and Fish

I was walking one day past a vacant lot beside a vacant factory on the outskirts of a vacant city. There was this big red dog staring at me from the shadows. Its hair was the colour of dried blood and crumbling brick, rusted bicycle chains and disused railway lines. It was so silent and… Read more »