Poetry By Gabor Gasztonyi

Joseph Gage CC




Viking Bob 

Light coming in from the Sunrise Hotel
softened at night even in the rain when
the outline of his beard moved in the mist
Bob remembered his sisters as they covered
him in summer grass beside the compost
heap covering his face and shoulders on
the wet ground.  Tiny dandelions filled
his pocket where he kept a book of names
of lost children and those who allowed him
to sleep in their room and touch the horn on
his gold-painted helmet.  Yearning to see
Jessica, he lay down at her door and spoke
through the keyhole, groaning all night, she
stayed silent, until they took him away

​




Rose

Rose lived behind a curtain in Jim’s
room, one bed on each side.  Hers lay farthest
from the window, near the door and 
wash basin.  Rose put heroin into
her arms like nuances of unfinished
dreams that kept her awake as her 
blood examined every particle
of memory, every outward scar
inflicted by knives and tattoo needles.
Jim an old man who carried shopping
bags of old bread and expired mushrooms
knew Rose was the only one that
loved him, and so he kept the curtain
open as long as she let him.

​


Gabor Gasztonyi is an award-winning professional photographer, author, and filmmaker who lives in New Westminster, BC, Canada.

His book A Room in the City, published by Anvil Press in 2010 with a foreword by Dr Gabor Mate, was a finalist for the George Ryga Award for Social Justice in Literature. Last year, he published Budapest at Night (Fekete Sas Kiado, Budapest), and currently, The Last Polio Children is due out this fall.  

Recent exhibitions include The Sudanese at the Surrey Art Gallery and two featured exhibits at the Capture Photography Festival in Vancouver, Portraits at Parkside Gallery.

His film No Way Out won Best Cinematography at the Harlem Film Festival in New York in May 2019.

Gabor is a polio survivor who has been an advocate for many years, including in Ethiopia, where he received a national recognition award for eradicating Polio.