Hello Dear Readers!  Well, I have to apologize, I don’t have any photos to run so I thought I would just put in a picture of my book.  Things have been going really well with the book, I was on TV the other day in Edmonton promoting it.  It has won an honorable mention in a big contest and right at the moment I am in Toronto trying to promote the book.

The trip really has been wonderful, though the plane ride had its bumps.  The guy sitting next to me seemed to want to try and push me over as far as I could go and I was near the bathrooms so just about anyone, including the flight attendants had to slide past me rubbing themselves on my arm as they went.  Ewwww!

But actually the plane ride was only just over 3 hours which was a cake walk for me since I took another one of my annual trips to New Hazelton (see the blog entry ‘Tommy and Red’) and ended up on the bus or waiting in a bus depot for a total of 22 hours.  Traveling is so awesome though, now that I am at my sister’s place in Toronto I feel great.  I slept most of yesterday but I do feel pretty good.  Tonight we went to a place called The Keg Steakhouse and though the prices were higher than any place I’ve ever eaten, I had a pretty good time.  I ended up ordering an 8 ounce top sirloin and baked potato, and both were beautiful.

As far as my mental health goes, I feel okay.  I don’t know if it really is bad for mental health to sleep a lot, I certainly know that it is a symptom of nearly every major disorder, including schizophrenia and depression.  I often feel I need more than 10 hours a day, especially if I take anything to help me to sleep.

For some reason I find myself saddened by a young man in Edmonton.  Everyone in my neighborhood seems to know him, he has this whole gothic look to him, he has flowing curly blond hair and very masculine features.  He wears a long black trench coat even in the summer and can be seen wandering around talking to himself.  I used to see him a lot at the farmer’s market, walking around, quoting laws and all kinds of stuff.  I think back to some of my sicker days living in Vancouver I would turn my head and yell and then resume walking as if I hadn’t made any sound.  I have run into a lot of people who say things that they themselves don’t want to do but they somehow hope by saying  it out loud someone else will do it, and I suppose there are those who think people are listening to them with a hidden microphone or possibly that aliens are listening to them. What bothers me about this guy in the trench coat is that I saw him the other day sleeping on a park bench and I really hope he isn’t homeless.  I know so little about him even though he is technically a neighbor and I think a lot about how people shun those with mental illness and even get angry or violent towards them.  What can one person do though?  It really sucks.

Anyhow, I think that is all I really feel like sharing today.  I will try and take some photos of around Toronto, it really is a beautiful city with all kinds of trees, lots of natural wildlife like black squirrels and birds and so many new varieties of flowers that I have never seen.  There is also a lot of amazing architecture here, many many high rises and of course the CN Tower and the twin curving towers of city hall.  Below is today’s poem dear readers, hope you enjoy it!

 

Reach Out and Touch The World

 

Strike forth and do not let your heart or mind grow still
your hopes and dreams are what your soul wills
cross the world because all of it is your home
love all the souls on earth and they won’t let you be alone

I left my home when I was still part boy part man
left all that I loved, gave up all my plans
but somehow this path led me to the one
with her, life is now joy and full of love and fun

I try now to move the world with words
and I find so much joy in sunshine and trees and birds
and a dear friend is showing me the way
to love these things and still have it all one day

there is a world out there that longs and waits for you
perhaps even a love so beautiful and true
but it will not find you by breaking down your door
it might just be found in crashing waves by the seashore

we all need to do this, leave home now and then
never worry that you won’t find your way back again
if you don’t go you won’t ever know if there was a better way
or if that perfect love you haven’t found yet will come to you some day

I sit now writing poems of my love
and thank the god that he is our creator up above
because he gave all of us the precious gift of you
you, dear reader, with a heart full of love and peace so true

no, I don’t have to know your name
because the truth is we are all the same
we want to care for and love those that are near
and live our lives without any fear

love and the wish for peace is something we all share
despite the different burdens that everyone bears
work hard, stay humble, experience the happiness
and know that if you are not lonely you are richly blessed

Leif Gregersen
August 2, 2015

New Blog Format and Today’s Poem

 

Well, after discussing the matter with my editor and friend Paula (who set up this site for me), apparently it turns out I have been making a mess of this website.  From now on, my blogs will be found here, in the News section rather than being the landing page.  All that aside though, things are going fairly well.  I am feeling in a bit of a slump after have all these adventures going to Hawaii and up to Hazleton, BC so I thought I would cheer myself up by buying a new camera.  I am pretty excited about it, it is being shipped to me and comes with a long-range telescopic lens that I am hoping will aid me in taking wildlife photos.  It may be some time before I get any more use out of my waterproof camera, but there is a chance I will take another tropical vacation in the new year.  Sometimes I want to travel to more ‘artsy’ places like New York or London and experience things like live theatre or the rich culture of their art galleries and museums.  I actually did go to a couple of museums in Hawaii and I loved it.  Anyone interested in seeing the pictures can find a lot of them at my Facebook page under my name.  Feel free to friend request me as well if you like my writing, it is always nice to have more followers, and Facebook will keep you updated about my books and poems as well as this site.  If you scroll down below, you will be able to read today’s poem.

 

How Could I Have Said That?

 

 

 

How can I have really forgotten

All that I thought I had learned?

How can it have faded away how I felt

Each time I loved another and was spurned?

 

I once swore I never would do that

Rejection is just simply too cruel

But as I get older and close off from love

I act like an angry old fool

 

I treat those who show that they care

As though they were gum on my shoe

It seems that just loving my family

Seems to be all I can manage to do

 

Once long ago when I was much younger

And friends were few and were far in between

I held up this one woman in my thoughts

As though I were a slave and she were my Queen

 

And it hurt me so terribly much

When she cut me right out of her life

Sometimes I think it may have hurt less

If I had cut my wrists open with a sharp knife

 

But that is never the answer

Suicide only hurts those that care

I just never stopped thinking of her brown eyes

Never stopped thinking of her beautiful hair

 

I knew this young woman from her girlhood

And when I got older I told her of my dreams

But so much was wrong in my life then

I might as well have been talking in screams

 

Maybe recently the loss of my sweet mom

Helped to make me end up so cold

Though the real truth is that it scares me

That I keep getting more lonely and old

 

I suppose there will be more chances

To not be so selfish a jerk

And hopefully in future romances

I can let go of my ego and make them work

 

Many years ago a smart dude once told me

That no matter how much things may seem bad

There still is another soul out there

Every bit as lonely and sad

 

I wish that I could somehow find her

And show her these hard won lines of verse

Tell her I will make her feel wanted

Because I have the same loneliness curse

 

So to the heart that beats out there somewhere

To the very same rhythm as mine

If I haven’t already hurt you too much

Think of me and the days when love will shine

 

Leif Gregersen

November 15, 2014

 

http://www.edmontonwriter.com

Hawaii Poetry

Hello.  I know most people who land on this page will have read this already, but I am thinking about adding my poems with a bit of background to them on this blog as often as I can.  The following poem took me a couple of hours to write, but weeks to formulate in my head.  In this poem, I talk about having time to think, which is something I really enjoyed about the book, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” which is actually my favourite book ever.  I even made a bit of a reference to motorbikes in this poem.  In reality, I did rent a scooter in Honolulu on a recent trip to Hawaii and it was just about the most liberating feeling I have ever had, except perhaps for the cost.  I haven’t travelled all that much on my own, but I have been to Vancouver and California, Northern BC, Ottawa and Toronto, as well as Hawaii, London and most of Denmark.   I have always had a strong desire to explore the US, but first I need to be able to afford a car reliable enough to last a few months of hard driving.  When I was 18, first out on my own, I lived in a traveller’s Hostel in a sketchy part of Vancouver and I would often talk with people for hours about all the things they had done and seen.  It was a real education for me, learning about how to find work and get discounted tickets and many many other travel tips.  One of the things I remember the most about that stay back in 1990 was that there was an old worn-out hippie dude who was likely about 50 or 60 at the time who only seemed to want to drink and eat and, when had drank enough, dance by himself.  I had made it known to all of my friends that I wanted most in the world to become a writer and this old hippie came up to me on one of the last days of my stay there and told me about Jack Keroac who would go off and hitch-hike and travel and live life to the lees and then come back and just sit and write.  I have heard much more about Keroac since, including how he wrote a book on an extra long piece of paper but I think the coolest thing I have seen in regards to the guy was a book a friend of mine has signed by ‘John Keroac’ which was the name he used before Jack.  Anyhow, I hope I am not boring you, but I invite all who come to this page to have a good long look at my stories and poems and take advantage of my free poetry page on Facebook under ‘Valhalla Books’.  If you like my stuff enough, download a kindle app on your smartphone and get into my head on your daily commute (I recommend taking the bus to work, but one day soon I plan to have my work made into audiobooks).  All the best, and enjoy the poem for today!

Vacationary Poem

Sometimes into my heart the darkness creeps in

Hate and jealousy, spite and fear

But somehow it all seems to melt apart

When your sweet and loving face is near

I find it hard to simply not give in

To those things that drive me mad

And those emotions drive your soul from me

And leave me bitter, lost and sad

I decided I simply had to take a journey

A journey inside and out

I needed to get back the young man’s heart

That brought your love for me about

I took a plane over the Rockies

Then another across the vast Pacific

I desperately needed back that part of me

That philosophizing poet charming and prolific

I made it to Hawaii

That place so many dream about

The warm and salty ocean renewed me

The beauty made me shout

There is just nothing like a journey

If it gives you the time you need for thought

And to satisfy all your yearnings

And remind you why you scraped and fought

We all must fight to keep on living

Or each day a little bit we shall die

It keeps our hearts loving and forgiving

It answers the most basic question: why

You asked nothing of me Hawaii

Your islands born of lava and of fire

I swam your crystal blue ocean waters

My need was real and dire

Hawaii you have desert

Land of freedom you have beach

In just a few remote island cities

All things in imagination are within reach

I took underwater pictures of your coral

I drove your highways vast

I laid upon your sandy beaches

And sweated off the memories of the past

I travelled past your coastlines

And motorcycled through your streets

And found once again that place inside me

Where passion and ambition meets

Oh, to feel those ocean breezes

To feel Hawaii in some small way you are mine

Although I live where everything freezes

I will always carry the memories of our time

When I left you I was totally renewed

Ready to face another year

And for myself I felt good because I proved

I missed the way things are back here

There were a few other things I missed as well

I’m not a man without any friends

Little things like open windows

Letting in cool air as each day ends

To you my dear readers

Please find a place of solace and renewal to retreat

Melt your hardened hearts and tan away your unhappiness

And prove to yourself that you can take the heat

And now my dear companion

My lover and my soul-mate true

I can get back to what really matters

I can get back to loving you

Leif Gregersen

October 14, 2014

Find links to purchase my fiction and non-fiction, poetry and short stories, as well as a wealth of free content from stories to articles and even videos at my web page below:

http://www.edmontonwriter.com