The Valley of Remembrance

Dufferin Grove Park, Toronto

We made it to the Valley of Remembrance at this year’s Night of Dread, hosted by the marvellous Clay and Paper Theatre at Dufferin Grove Park here in Toronto, in time to visit the shrines before the rain poured down.

This year I chose to make a shrine in memory of the poet Mary Oliver  who died this year.  Every time I read her poems I always hear something new, she listened to the world so well.  I thought of her as I considered what to do this year not because I think she would be someone who would appreciate shrines built in her honour,  but because I do believe she might appreciate being remembered among the beautiful trees  in Dufferin Grove, a beloved place in the community.  Somehow it just fit.

Dufferin Grove Park Toronto

It felt right to start with a branch and I can imagine her sitting among the butterflies enjoying the view.  I appreciated the opportunity to take some more time with her poems and I found some pieces that were new to me.  Like this one, “Everything That Was Broken.”

Everything that was broken has
forgotten its brokenness. I live
now in a sky-house, through every
window the sun. Also your presence.
Our touching, our stories. Earthly
and holy both. How can this be, but
it is. Every day has something in
it whose name is forever.

–Mary Oliver

Maybe her words won’t live forever, but she will have a lasting effect on so many and her vision continues to invite us to pay attention to the magic and mystery of ordinary things.  I decided to include an interactive element this year and create little quotes that people could take away with them. Presente Mary.

Every year we leave our shrines in the good care of the folks who prepare the festivities for the Night of Dread and often the shrines make it through to stand another year.  I was delighted to find some of my earlier creations were present again this year.

Remembering Tony

Remembering Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls

Remembering Jimmy

It’s always interesting to see who and what turns up in the Valley each year. I’m grateful for this creative opportunity to collect our losses, light them up and call them out, acknowledge them together.   There’s not enough room in the world for spaces like this that invite us to come forward and express our losses and create our own remembrances.   I’m thankful for this one.