Fortunate Isles


                            The Fortunate Isles (Two Boats, Salmon Cove), oil on canvas, 38.5" x 58", Steven Rhude


Fool: Where are we now?

Jester: As usual, you're on the edge - this time gazing towards the Fortunate Isles. 

Fool: Oh Christ, and what are they prey tell?

Jester: Hey, you apprenticed and took the job... after four hundred years, I'm just fixing on retirement. So, if you wish to know, you are standing on the margin between the known world and the under world. It's the last car to Elysian Fields [1] my dear fool, as Mr. James Lee Burke once wrote -  but for you it may be thought to be a utopia, somewhere in the Atlantic ocean .

Fool: So who gets in?

Jester: Well, the odd mortal is allowed in, but that is up to the heroic and the righteous. Depends on what they see. 

Fool: So you're talking about the after life.

Jester: Yes, to the Greeks it was a concern. But for you it must be a a modern principle... something linked to literature, music, film, and of course - painting; since you've followed this foolish occupation .

Fool: Ouch!

Jester: Sorry fool. You must decide where you are, in Salmon Cove? Or, gazing out the window on the Fortunate Isles. I recall another fool before you who wrote that "very slowly solitude slips round me in St. Stephen's Green. I rest: see pale salmon clouds blossom. I'm back in the fields of Elysium." [2]

Fool: I like this guy!


Steven Rhude, Wolfville, NS


[1] Elysian Fields, a neighbourhood in New Orleans Tennessee Williams' "A Street car Named Desire" 


[2] Hugh McFadden, Cities of Mirrors   


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Saving of Everett Lewis

Image
“One believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved” (St. Paul, Rom. 10:10). On October 23rd, 2018 I met and interviewed Reverend Stephen Wade in Paradise, Nova Scotia. In 1978, New Years Eve day, Reverend Wade met and provided spiritual consolation hours before Everett Lewis was murdered. Port Lorne, Nova Scotia, 2013 - a power outage owing to a winter storm. He went out to his garage to start up his generator which was in need of fuel. The power was out and emergency sirens could be heard through out the region. It was one of those winter nights.  I'm reminded of the power of gasoline, my own can stored in a shed ... pull back the plastic lock to release the cap into motion and then turn the cap counter clockwise to expose the flammable agent... did it a thousand times. The odour staining my nostrils, as I eventually fill my lawn mower gas tank to cut my grass and maintain a common, and collective suburban exercise. An im
Read more

What really happened in Marshalltown?

Image
"In 1851 including idiots and imbiciles, there was one insane person for every 593 of the population; in 1861 this ratio had risen to one in 504; while in 1871 there was no less than one to 309." He further noted that "the advance of the population was at 40 percent, while the number of those with unsound mind increased 169 percent in the same period."  - Dr. DeWolfe, Report of the inspector of Humane Institutions April1, 1955 to March 31, 1956, Province of Nova Scotia Poor Farm, oil on canvas, 60" x 128", Steven Rhude      This time of year dodging the weather is an art form in itself - the two hour journey from Wolfville to Marshalltown on a two lane highway must be timed accordingly and approached with caution. Winds from the north mountain can easily buffet a car as one contemplates their destination. On other occasions, engulfed in white outs, I've turned back; "keep your eye on the road mister." That said, driving through
Read more

Passing through Dildo and toponyms to remember

Image
The place name "Dildo" is attested in this area since at least 1711, though how this came to be is unknown. The origin of the word "dildo" itself is obscure. It was once used to reference a phallus-shaped pin stuck in the edging of a row boat to act as a pivot for the oar (also known as a "thole pin" or "dole pin.") [1] Passing Through Dildo, oil on canvas, 35"x 60", Steven Rhude, Emma Butler Gallery The Rock isn't just known for its colourful buildings and people. Newfoundland place names have inspired some of the most lively discussions over the centuries and, in many instances avoided sanitising by a 1904 Nomenclature Board, that according to Gordon Hancock (faculty member at Memorial University and a member of the Advisory Committee on Toponymic Research) was formed to eliminate postal code chaos and what at the time was considered to be "local embarassment that resulted from duplicate or unfortunate toponyms".
Read more