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!

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Genius is not obvious in so many of us


from this week in November, 2007  (I was 62)

Genius is not obvious in so many of us
and we know it before anyone else
So many of us adopt the guise of expert
which is what geniuses would become
if they focused  I might be an expert
on licorice if I knew my anise from my extract 
Many are those whose expertise is liquorish
The expert craftsman sells his craft
The expert sailor sails his craft
for the expert wholesaler who crafts a sale
and delivers the goods fit for the gods
to the expert and deserving do-gooders
among us focused but not obviously genius

No comments:

Post a Comment