I don’t write in a journal everyday, but I have accumulated many entries over the past 50+ years beginning in 1966. Some items evolved into longer works. Among the leftovers little pieces survived. I thought a collection of these with a piece culled from the same date in a past year would make an interesting yearbook. The consistencies and inconsistencies of mind, skipping back and forth across time, provide varied perspectives. It is difficult to remember the context of the past we’ve lived; we also make suppositions about times that predate ourselves.

The few alterations from original drafts were to improve clarity. The worst of my work is not included. There remains enough mediocrity and immaturity to make me feel humble and you feel smart. There are also moments of accidental insight and incidental humor.

Author Stephen Crane referred to his little pieces as pills…apparently they were small and somewhat hard to swallow, but good for you.


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Monday, July 4, 2016

Independence


July 4, 2006  (I was 61)

Independence
we say we celebrate
but no longer as historic commemoration
We like England
We celebrate independence
from the court of world opinion
independence from global concerns
never letting them impinge upon national desire
(I too hold with those who favor fire)
A godly greed within us burns
The inferno is our dominion
We celebrate independence
England likes us
but they resist colonization
Celebrate we say
Independence
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