By Stephen Morrissey

Introduction and photographs © Stephen Morrissey 2007

Right: The last photograph I took of Artie Gold, returning to his apartment located across the street, after an April 2004 meeting with fellow Vehicule Poets (Claudia Lapp, Ken Norris, Tom Konyves, Endre Farkas, and myself; John McAuley was absent) to celebrate the publication of The Vehicule Poets_Now (ed. Konyves & Morrissey).

Introduction:

A week after Artie Gold died, the police allowed representatives for Artie’s family to enter his apartment. The police had padlocked the apartment until Artie’s next of kin could be notified of his death. As an old friend of Artie’s, I asked that I could also be present when the apartment was opened.

In the hour between being allowed to enter the apartment by the police and the beginning of the disbursement of Artie’s belongings, I took many photographs of Artie’s apartment, as he left it before he died. I wanted a visual record of Artie’s presence for posterity. Artie was highly allergic to animal and human dander and because of this very few people were allowed to enter his home, otherwise the one place where he was safe from allergen triggers would be contaminated.

Artie Gold was, as Endre Farkas writes, “One of Canada’s finest poets.” His entire life was dedicated to poetry. Here, then, is a photographic record of Artie Gold’s last home, as he left it, before he departed this “veil of tears.”

Stephen Morrissey
Montreal, May 2007