March 4th, 2022

  I am 'switching gears' as they used to say at the open pit mine where I worked for many years and now am editing a short book of poems I have written over the years for potential publishing. The poems are about mining and surveying, family, Latin America and philosophy of life. These themes are all intertwined as I was a mining geologist but while working in Honduras got married to a Honduras woman and also have travelled extensively in both Canada and the US and also Latin America so hope my poems are imbued with what it is like to be not just a Canadian but also a true American in the sense of having lived in various parts of the Americas. 

​As true 'Americans' we are all conscious of the high mountain spine (the Western Cordillera) that occupies the western edge of North and South America, of having indigenous peoples asserting their rights in all of these countries, and of their artifacts and also ancient ruins of their temples in places like Teotihuacan near Mexico City, of meeting mixed or mestizo or Metis people in most of these countries where the people are a rich mixture of white ex-English, Scottish, Irish and Spanish and a few other caucasian groups origin and of course indigenous and also from afro-descendent people. Also, we have common foodstuffs like corn and beans throughout these countries and various forms of tortillas, like the pupusas of El Salvador, the large and small tortillas of Mexico and Central American and the thick arepas of Venezuela, the rich mineral resources throughout these countries and the common brotherhood of the miners who face similar conditions from Alaska and Canada to the US and Mesoamerica  and South America in dealing with corporations who usually are only out for the profit motive with a few exceptions. 

This poetry pamphlet also includes some very wise sayings heard throughout my experiences in the Americas and especially from a wise old grandmother from El Salvador on life from the perspective of those engaged in their local mining industry but of wide philosophical import, ie with universal truths.