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.


Comments Welcome!

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

In drizzling wind



from this week in August, 2008 (I was 63)

In drizzling wind
we stood to warm over steam vents
overlooking the deep drop of Kilauea crater
then hiked the rim trail in low clouds
weaving mist through gradual descent
to find no one else at Thurston lava tube
We explored the old hole in new wonder
birthed by the perfect solitude
shared a silent toke in sacramental homage
A fumarole of cylindrical symmetry
coiled round hairy roots threaded through the ceiling
Water drops anointed us down the dim path
and deeper for moments beyond any light
subdued in the dark recognition
before we backtracked
to emerge among bright ferns
flowers and the canopy of ohia trees
which kept the percussive rain from us
Such are impromptu gifts of circumstance
and reminders of our undevinable situation
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