Photographer: Gun Roze
Text: Elana Wolff

Aerophone

Rain was falling, all the streetlights haloed.

At the venue, table edges rippled. The room,

though small, went on and on,

we moved from side to side and face to face without embracing.

The concertina music was outlandish. How else

would we have ventured all those lunges, leaps and lifts?

I think we were insuperable and sailing over tables,

ferried by that free-reed aerophone—

the music, as I mentioned, was fantastic.

The Fury

Rain strafed the streets for days. Lightning on the skyline bolted east—

the bottlebrush and sacred fig illumined in the flicker. Mynahs

and the emerald parrots—usually shrill, went still.

The wind-up to the giant’s strike was on—

When he struck and broke his back on the inundated city—

windows rattled, buildings shook, the trees salaamed, the animals hid.

People counted the hours. Earth stood ground and took the fury

into her bosom and womb. After the wrath, she held her face

to the sun without a grunt. Some of us were listening.

Father in the Photograph-Tree

Hanging with his ambidextrous

hands in blackened branches.

The tree is nothing like a father—

(not unless it’s said so in a poem.)

Long ago, a west end park, he pushed me in a wooden

swing. I pumped and pumped and went high up,

I might have touched

the sky, if I hadn’t leapt. Might have flown

if my arms were a little longer, quicker,

wing-like. Up I was—for a twinkling—that was that—

And what can a father manage, captured—

hanging in a photograph?

Or is the picture poised to catch a flash-

back …

of swinging high and blissful—letting go—

Call up the dead.

Father hanging in a tree, his ambidextrous

hands as absent leaves.

He lifted me

from the gravel—

inexplicably

asked why I’d leapt.

I had room for every child’s pebble and arrowhead,

glow-worm and feather,

every winged and unthinkable thing. Like calling up

the dead, to truce. Like falling—

not being caught.

Gun Roze

Gun Roze is a Toronto born Fine Art Photographer. His fascination with photography began with his first gifted camera at the age of 8. Though he studied photography related courses, his most valuable knowledge was gained as a Master Analog Darkroom Printer for professional photographers during his devoted 35 year career. The demands for his expertise as a personal colour printer opened up work opportunities in Vancouver, San Francisco and New York City. Throughout this period Gun continued with his own photography and creative projects.

For his personal work, 2012 was a defining year for him. While living and working in NYC, he rediscovered 28 rolls of 35mm colour negatives in his archives. The film was shot mainly on the streets of Manhattan in 1982. This series showcases his first exploration into street photography and is titled “MANHATTAN 1982”. In 2013, three of the images were included in a prestigious NYC gallery group show focused on NYC life in the 80s. Two years later, 21 of these images were exhibited for his premiere solo show in Toronto at Akasha Art Projects.

The enthusiasm surrounding this discovery inspired Gun to return to street photography in NYC, though from a resident’s perspective. His daily practice is reliant on the easy access of his ever present point-and-shoot compact digital camera. With this dedicated method he has gained a solid following and reputation for his unique captures. Since returning to Toronto in 2015, Gun has continued with his daily approach to street-based photography and its detailed representation of his hometown’s various neighborhoods. To view a body of Gun’s work, please visit his website- www.shot-by-gun.com

Gun has recently self-published a quality hardcover photo book titled MANHATTAN 1982. A signed copy for $100 CDN (+shipping) can be ordered by directly emailing him gunroze@gmail.com

Elana Wolff

Elana Wolff lives and works in Thornhill, Ontario—the traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee and Huron-Wendat First Nations.

Her poems have recently appeared in Bear Review, Best Canadian Poetry 2021, Canadian Literature, Contemporary Verse 2, Grain,

Literary Review of Canada, Pinhole Poetry, Montréal Serai, The New Quarterly, Taddle Creek, and Waterwheel Review. Her collection,