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!

Friday, October 28, 2016

Billy The Kid (chapter 117)


from this week in 1969  (I was 24)

   Billy The Kid (chapter 117)
Hey, Billy the Kid,
you’ve got dust on your shirt.
Dust on boots is understandable
and you’ve plenty of that,
but on your shirt?

If you stopped just outside of town
to blotch it on,
I’m disappointed.

It doesn’t look blotched,
but maybe you’ve done it before
and know how to get it on just right.

At any rate, I’d rather believe your are real
standing there without a hat
at the water trough.

I guess your nickname had never before
stuck in my mind;
it will from now on.
You are a kid,
or maybe I’ve grown old.

In how many other places like this
have you stopped at a trough
to soak your neck cloth,
and how many times have you mounted
and ridden on with a quick nod to a man
who may have grown old?
                     *
News Flash:  Incredible!  President Obama just endorsed my wife, Cheryl Cook-Kallio, in her campaign for election to the California State Assembly.   A remarkable recognition of her dedicated efforts, congratulations Dear.  


Halloween Treat!  johnkallio.com
Go to AUDIO page.  Listen to my rendition of
Acquainted With The Night by Robert Frost  


 

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