Fulham Road

We prepared to cross Fulham Road--

me and a girl who’d picked me up

on the Russian freighter. It was the

fall of 1977, and we were in London

on our way to-- well, it doesn’t matter

now. It ended badly. She stepped from

the curb, looking the wrong way. I

saw the snot-brown Vauxhall headed

straight for her blind side.

Instinctively, I threw out my arm to

restrain her. Just in time. The buffeting

announced that we were still alive.

She said, “Don’t patronize me.

I know where I’m going. Never do that

again. And another thing. Stop telling

people who pick us up that you’re a

writer. That’s not for you to say.

That’s for others to decide.”

I looked her in the eye. She was

serious. And I wondered if I’d made

a mistake in saving her from the

Vauxhall. But then, this was 1977.

And everything was different then.

A Split of the Atomic

The physicist Wolfgang Pauli was

first to discover the neutrino, a

particle so small as to be invisible;

with his eye fixed on the theoretical

he never saw the possibility that

his wife might be drifting away.

When told she was leaving him for a

colleague, the distinguished man

could only think to respond, “A

chemist? You say that you’re leaving

me for a chemist?” But she did.

And history was still made.

The Portrait Painter 1603

Four hundred years ago they steadied

their gaze for him, the unknown painter.

Twelve subjects in Gloucester. In Norwich,

twenty more sat for his measured stare.

In ruffled shirts and beaded gowns,

quill in hand, coat of arms on the

periphery. Vanity now lost to dust.

But not the wondering eye, the dun

palette singing in the gallery, travelling

artist lowered to base commissions. Did

he sympathize about the late spring as

he mixed the cinnabar and orpiment?

Did he ask after sons and daughters?

Did he work in silence, mindful of his rank?

No matter, the unseen hand still moves

in raw brush strokes like fingers, eyes

pooling warm tears of recognition.

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy

Bruce's career is unmatched in Canada for its diversity and breadth of experience with successful stints in television, radio and print. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he is also the best-selling author of seven books. He was a featured columnist for the Calgary Herald (1998-2009) and the Globe & Mail (2009-2013).