Lina Jamison
art : poetry : essays
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Saturday, February 14, 2026
Saturday, February 07, 2026
A NEW HOLE IN THE WALL
What it was, of course, there was no telling
Until her second grader
To the bathroom went
And thought it’d be best
To challenge another
Whose legs were shorter.
By chance, Teacher opened the door
To find her wide-eyed speeding boy
Slipping, hitting his head on the wall
Making a hole fit for a golf ball.
I swear she could’ve fainted
As the bloody head was raised
So to the Office they both sped
As she prayed for God’s Grace.
Soon her great speedy boy
Will be back to school
Sporting staples or stitches
He’d probably hide like hickies.
Now Teacher thinks it’d be a bore
If she would patch the new hole
And terminate tales of follies
Such as reckless hall races.
MLJ06022026OnCompetitiveBoys
Wednesday, February 04, 2026
Monday, February 02, 2026
Saturday, January 31, 2026
RETIREMENT 103
Pancakes for breakfast it is.
Cocoa powder not on sale?
Then settle for burnt rice tea
Or plain cleansing hot water.
Russet potatoes on sale?
Mashed they are, for lunch.
Gravy from scratch.
Cheese not on sale?
Then just imagine it’s there.
MLJ31012026
RETIREMENT 102
Anything on sale?
Not a thing?
Turn around and want nothing.
MLJ/28/08/2024
RETIREMENT 101
Exercise. Take a hot shower.
Oatmeal and hot chocolate drink,
Or fried rice and corned beef.
Put on your wide-brimmed hat
And who-cares-what-I-wear getup.
Hear mass, work, give back, volunteer.
See the woods, watch the birds and the bees.
Wait for sunset. Enjoy a blueberry muffin.
Pray. In your peaceful sleep, you’re taken.
MLJ/28/08/2024
Thank you for the laughter, Catherine O"Hara
"Why God gave us humour... to be able to exist amidst the sadness." - COH -
Catherine O'Hara (1954-2026): A Conversation You've Never Seen | Dini Petty 1998
Friday, January 30, 2026
As Cold as Ice
At the mere scent of the yellow head
And his armed gang members.
We’ve turned a blind eye
To his every yap, bark, growl, bite
Our hearts as cold as ice.
We’ve looked the other way
As he smothers a weakling a day
Saving our own skin
Until he looks our way…
MLJ30012026Minnesota
Monday, January 26, 2026
On our way home…
Nobody warned us
We’d be so incomplete
With all our losses
Vision, hearing, memory, bones…
Glad we didn’t sell our souls
So we’d still deserve our home.
Dust to dust.
MLJ26012026EyeTrouble
Saturday, January 24, 2026
I just wanna be…
A TickToker
An influencer
A gamer, a gambler
I just wanna be famous.
Just wanna be a billionaire.
When everything’s empty
Empty governments
Empty laboratories
Empty pharmacies
Empty hospitals
Empty schools
What do I care?
AI will give me answers.
I have a self-driving car
A self-cleaning house
Robots at my bidding
No Amazon River?
Dried up by data centers
No boreal forest?
Burned up by global warming
What do I care?
Trillionaires have colonized the moon
Enslaving aging scientists and engineers
Refining robots that’ll replace them.
Wish I could follow later
But I’m no Jeff nor Elon yet
No Gautam nor Jensen
Oh, well…
MLJ24O12026EnlightenTheChildren
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Friday, January 09, 2026
Thursday, January 01, 2026
Mississippi Mesala (1991)
Did we know? The British brought laborers from British India
to build the Uganda Railway (1896-1901), and workers later settled there. Under
Idi Amin in 1972, the Asians were expelled from Uganda. A familiar story?
Canada hired Chinese laborers to build the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) to
connect Eastern Canada with the Pacific (1881-1885). Most of them settled in
Canada and built Chinatowns in major cities, but further immigration was
stopped with the Chinese Exclusion Act (1923-1947)… Fast forward to present North
America where most industries move with the brains and muscles of migrant
workers. From Silicon Valley to the farms of Ontario, how are they faring?




