This Canadian Dreamscape

once upon a time I spent
8 months watching Hard
Core Logo over and over

again and once upon a time
I slept with a copy of Whale Music under
my arm under my
pillow and once upon a time

I believed in it all because
once upon a time the music bled
through me in waves just like
once upon a time the words spilled
onto the page in avalanches

Gord Downey came to me last night in a dream though and
speaking as Neil Young might have
told me a story about Glen
Gould, how he
spent all of his time
practicing andd how
even ugly Mordechi Richler would let
a cigar burn to the stub if he was
writing with fury, which is as much to say
once a day

and I woke up drenched
and bent my head into my palms
and wished for a song that would start

once upon a time