iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

This Sunday! Poetry Open Mic at Buddies returns with so many great artists. Please join our audience, and if you have work to share, do it! We're a warm and receptive room. Be there by 3:30 or even a bit earlier if you want to secure an open mic spot. #torontopoets #poetry #torontoarts

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

As long as I don’t think about the climate change implications, I can say that it’s nice to sit on the back porch and do my work without even a sweater on October 1 while a hermit thrush, taking a break from its migration south, wanders around foraging.

Hermit thrush, who visits the garden twice a year during migrations. I wonder if it’s the same bird every time?

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Bizarre! I just watched the Netflix doc about the Ed Sullivan Show. Clearly this project started as a doc about Sullivan’s contribution to the civil rights movement and giving a national stage to black performers during segregation times. 1/2

Ed Sullivan with Harry Belafonte, a frequent guest on his show.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The tipping point is just us mindlessly banking on an AI future with purportedly brilliant machines making it possible to unemploy vast swaths of the citizenry.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

For years, our dog walks took us past a house with a Madonna in a stone garden shrine, lit by spotlights and behind bars. The house was sold, and one night, we found her out in the garbage. We took her home. I love her chipped paint and asymmetrical face. #photography #icon #Mary

A plaster Madonna statue, symmetrically from the breast up, hands touching her sacred heart. The paint is chipped, and the end of the nose broken. The background is a dusty ochre.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

A little shrine on the first anniversary of the death of my husband's mother, featuring the most glorious rose from our garden and a Mary statue we rescued from a neighbour’s garbage. #photography #mementomori #roses

A portrait oriented collection of memorial objects. On the left is a red votive candle, lit. In front of it, a small portrait of the deceased, a black and white photo of a woman with dark hair and eyes in a clear plastic frame much larger than the photo. Right of centre stands a plaster Madonna with chipped pain. In front of her is a clear vase with a huge rose in red and coral hues. The wall behind is ocher , with reds and splatters of light from the candle.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

So still and silent early on a holiday Sunday morning. The sound of a squirrel cracking a fruit pit two doors down is enough to catch my attention. Later today, the airshow will scream overhead.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

The energy and good spirits were amazing. Thanks to all the organizers and riders! My husband and I were probably not the oldest participants, but we were glad to represent our demographic, because CYCLING IS FOR ALL!

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Amazing turnout and energy on the Critical Mass cycle tonight through Toronto! Save our lanes!!!

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Yeah, Ford ain't my hero just because he's "our" bully.

Image from "The Beaverton" of Ontario Premier Doug Ford and US President Trump with a school bus between them, and the headline beneath: "Breaking: Doug Ford challenges Donald Trump to a corruption fight in the school parking lot."

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Today would have been my dad's 101st birthday. Here is a pic of him and my mom looking frankly hot in the late-1940s.

A young couple in front of a waterfall. She wears a striped bikini top, a white sun hat, and espadrilles with a wide belt. She is pressed against the side of a man in shite shorts and white t-shirt. Both wear sunglasses and lean against a railing. In the background is a waterfall. A walking bridge is seen behind their heads. The picture is mildly sepia-toned.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Nature is working like it should despite our insults. Our tomatoes in April on the windowsill and today in front of the house.

Tomatoes sprouting in containers on the windowsill

Large tomato plants bursting with fruit in front of a red brick wall

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Summer’s sisters dance in a ring / Papa’s favourite leaps in the light / oblivious of everything

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Check out this wild, racist shit. My grandfather's identity card, issued in Quebec in 1931, that lists his nationality as: "Jew Canadian."

Identity card for Pascal, Max, issued in Quebec in 1931, containing pertinent biographical information and his picture in the upper left, a short Eraserhead haircut in black, his piercing eyes, and neat moustache. He is wearing a herringbone jacket, and a black tie. One collar of his white shirt has escaped containment.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Here are the two little girls much later in life, my mom on the left this time.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Scanning old family photos. My grandmother (in the light hat), her sister (in the dark hat), and her brother-in-law at the wheel. Their daughters sit between them. My mother is the little one with no interest in looking at the camera. I guess this is 1930. #vintagephotography #familyportrait

Two women sit on the running board of an old car with their young daughters sitting between them. The driver sits, partly in shadow, at the wheel of the car. Everyone is dressed with some elegance.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

TONIGHT! Readings by: J. Marshall Freeman, @gregfrankson.bsky.social, Antanas Šileika, Sky Gilbert. Guest speaker: Dafina Izenberg on "How to Write a Great Book Review." Join us live or stream at: www.youtube.com/channel/UCUW... PWYC, Q&A with the writers afterward. Books available for sale.

Brockton Writers Series, lit reading even in Parkdale/West Quest W.
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 — 6:30 p.m.
at Glad Day Lit, located at 32 Lisgar St., Toronto.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Viewing Brandon Steen’s painting, “Birdhouse Barn” in the window of the Roberts Gallery. #photography #reflection

I am centred in the reflection of the gallery window in the frame of a painting of a barn covered in birdhouses. The painting’s sky of blue and cloud is perfectly continued by the actual reflected sky behind me.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Happy 50th birthday to the CN Tower. I was in grade 6 when they were building it, and we were all very invested. My favourite thing is the way the tower imposes itself incongruously on so many views downtown. Here it is over Chinatown.

The CN tower, part of the family portrait of background buildings rising above Chinatown in Toronto.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Yes, my dog has the same self-immolating desires. 10 throws and that’s it. Fewer on hot summer days!

Clear red cardigan corgi standing over a toy, barking, demanding immediate play.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

A sexually vivid snippet of my new poem, “Queer Love Is Not AI” that I read yesterday:

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

It’s a little-known fact that “The Omen” and the story of Damien, the little Antichrist, is based on my own demonic childhood.

Me at around age 6 or 7 looking up at the camera with hooded eyes and an evil expression.

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

What are you doing tomorrow afternoon (Saturday)? Coming to the amazing Pride edition of Poetry Open Mic at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre? Hell yeah, you are! Hosted by Raymond Helkio and me, and featuring TRUTH IS…

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J. Marshall Freeman @jmarshallfreeman.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Listening to the carillon at Hart House at #UofT. I once had a tour of it, up the tower. Note also the impressive progress flag up for Pride month.

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