isobelmtl

Writing under a Montreal sky

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about

Isobel Cunningham has published short fiction and poetry. Her book, Northern Compass is available on Amazon. She was born in Wales but Montreal is her adopted home. She speaks French, Modern Greek ( it’s a fun story) and a little Spanish…oh, English too, of course. She welcomes comments on her blog and looks forward to chatting with you over cyber-space.

Author: isobel cunningham

  • Mortality

      which is, I have been recently reminded, for me and not just all those other people.  I want to be like the bronze statue of the dancer I bought when I was feeling a bit flush.  There she is with her leg perpetually raised in a dance, her hands ready to clash the cymbals,…

  • Sidewalk sale

      Today Mont Royal Boulevard  was closed to traffic and open to what felt like half the pedestrians  of Montreal.  I went with three friends to stroll along the long street that runs through an old, and now gentrified part of the city.  Hipsterfied, modified, moneyfied, chic’d up fixed up, pulled up, like most of…

  • June coming in

    Yesterday these irises were closed.  There was only a hint of blue petal at the tip of the tightly twisted cone sitting on the long sturdy stem.  It was a humid day, a waiting sort of day.  Late in the evening it began to rain and I think it rained all night.  At some time…

  • The Sun

      From these pictures you have an idea of how the glass sculpture in front of the Montreal Museum is mounted for the summer and put away for the winter.  Dale Chihuly is the master glass creator who made this piece.  It was bought following a spectacular exhibition at the Museum a few years ago.…

  • A Visitor in the Garden

          What a long time since I wrote…..almost ten days. We had a long weekend. It used to be called Victoria Day and then that didn’t seem quite right for Quebec and so it was called Dollard des Ormeaux Day and then someone found outs that DDO, far from being an upholder of…

  • Keep the Faith

      Remember that saying from way back?  Too far back for some you, right?  How about, “Hang in there!”  Persistence, I guess that’s what it boils down to. I cut this branch of lilac from the tree in my backyard on a dismal and grey day when the mist looked suspiciously like tiny snowflakes and…

  • Youth and Hope

        I’m sure Adam grumbled to Eve about how the younger generation had totally gone off the rails and that there was no hope for them.  When you come to think of it, he did have a bit of a point…Cain and Abel, you know? This is a theme with us more mature types.…

  • Flowers have a Meaning too

      Here in Montreal our winters are long and hard.  Winter does not retreat easily.  He hangs on month after month, week after week.  We tear off pages on the calendar and fool ourselves that “soon…next week……on the weekend” it will be milder, sunnier, warmer.  It takes a long time for these wishes, these hopes…

  • A Happy Surprise

      Many thanks to Barbara Black and Rene Robitaille, editors of Contact 26, the magazine of the guides of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.  They  kindly gave a full-page feature to my poem “Cold Bronze”.  This piece was inspired by the statues “In memoriam  I”and “In memoriam II”  by Elisabeth Frink. These works stand…

  • Old favourites …and a new star

      The first day of tulips.  On Thursday I saw showy magnolias for the first time in my town , open and, already falling, falling.  Today in the little city back garden my tulips opened and with them a beauty I have been wondering about for weeks.  Would it survive two significant snowfalls after a…