s w i f t s  &  s l o w s: a quarterly of crisscrossings

Invisible roots and fallen leaves
Honey Novick & bill bissett

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Bill Bissett’s Drawing

I look at your drawing and see me
I look for me everywhere in your work
the round joyfulness is there
the straight lines becoming a circle are there
neverending
the oracle may be hidden yet she is there
when I look for me in your work, I ask
of the oracle to foretell my future
I beseech, I do not cajole
for to do that would mean I would
no longer see me
uncertainty lives in these lines and circles
it is respected and honoured
it is uncertainty that will lead the way
through the forest of beauty and peril
each step one more toward
whatever I make of whatever I see

I love your work
as I love to seek the truth of my existence,
always beautiful in its spirit
interesting, unusual, happy

there are invisible roots and fallen leaves
there is joy in the image
even when I am out on a broken limb
I can place trust in the wings of our friendship
a friendship that will carry me through

it is the life force of the tree that is stalwart
this is what I see in your work
when I look to find me
all that I could ask for, all I could receive
fills my heart with hope and joy and trust
and respect and uncertainty,
your art fills me with hope, beauty
with the truth of friendship
and with that I can rescue my loneliness

Poetry: Honey Novick.  Drawing: bill bissett.

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Honey Novick is a singer/songwriter/voice teacher/poet, living in Toronto, Canada. She has been published in numerous anthologies and has 9 chapbooks and 8 CDs. She is the 2020 Recipient of the Mentor Award (CSARN) Canadian Senior Artists Resource Network), 3rd time awardee of the Dr. Reva Gerstein Legacy Fund and recipient of the 2020 Community Hero Award. She teaches Voice Yoga and sings with bill bissett. She will have a collection published by the Taj Mahal Review entitled “Hope comma Lucent, You Edify Me” as well as a collection of poetry called “Bob Dylan, My Rabbi” published by Secret Handshake Publications. Honey Novick’s website →

Canadian poet Bill Bissett was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and started publishing in the 1960s. He is known for his unconventional writing style and spirited performances. The author of more than 60 books of poetry, he is also a painter and musician. His collections of poetry include Th influenza uv logik (1995), Loving without being vulnrabul (1997), Scars on th seehors (1999), narrativ enigma (2004), and northern wild roses (2005) and Breth (2019). bill bissett and honey novick work with the Secret Handshake Gallery arts community in Toronto”. bill bissett’s website →