The Writings of Geoff Micks

A long, beautiful day, with a funeral in the middle

Yesterday I woke up at quarter to six in the morning. That’s unusual for me. I’m a night owl. Long ago I gave up trying to fall asleep before midnight. I just lie awake, urging myself unsuccessfully to slumber. My internal clock isn’t set up to go to bed early, and, as a consequence, I’m…
Poem: In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In…
Awesome Pictures: Wait for me, Daddy

What is it: Wait for me, Daddy is one of the most famous Canadian pictures of the Second World War. It was taken October 1st, 1940, in New Westminster, British Columbia by Claude Dettloff. Why is it Awesome? This is Remembrance Day, and it’s the only day that I celebrate for the reason it’s on…
Sufjan Stevens: Casimir Pulaski Day

I first came across Sufjan Stevens a few years ago. His That Was the Worst Christmas Ever is something I can listen to year round. It just strikes a nerve with me that I can’t quite articulate, but it fascinates me all the same. Recently I’ve gone looking into his discography, and I’ve come across…
Awesome Pictures: The Simpsons do Abbey Road

What is it: A Simpsons homage to The Beatles Abbey Road photo from the November 2002 cover of Rolling Stone. Why is it Awesome? I’m a huge Simpsons fan, and I’m a huge Beatles fan. This combines the two brilliantly. I saw it this morning, and now it is my desktop. Long may it reign.…
Book Review: Bernard Cornwell’s The Burning Land

Bernard Cornwell is another one of my favourite authors. He writes smart, adventurous historical fiction in both stand-alone novels and long-running series, and he does so at a prolific rate: He has put out at least a book a year every year from 1981 up to the present; more often than not he’s written a…
My Industrial Accident

I’ve worked a lot of factory jobs in my life, from the rock crushing job in England, to making gas tanks, to cooking steel. One summer I was working at a heat treating factory that tempered steel for tool and die purposes. I had a couple of minor accidents that summer that are stories in…
The Day I Found Myself Between a Mother Bear and Her Cub

When I was sixteen I went for a hike along Centennial Ridges Trail in Algonquin Provincial Park. It’s a ten-kilometer loop that visits five cliffs along two parallel ridges of Canadian Shield. It’s a gorgeous walk, and one I’ve often done before and since, but this time I came very close to being mauled by…
Awesome Pictures: William Tecumseh Sherman

What is it: Major General William Tecumseh Sherman, taken in May of 1865 by Mathew Brady. Why is it Awesome? First of all, just look at him. Look at that face. Look at those eyes. He might be famous as the first modern general, the man who burned his way across the South waging what…
The Problem with Science Fiction on Television

I was talking to my father the other day, and he mentioned a new television show that I should check out: Defying Gravity. I had heard something about ABC’s new drama vaguely a few months back. Someone had called it, ‘Grey’s Anatomy in Space,’ which failed to spark my immediate interest. I told my father…