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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Tuesday, December 13, 2016

This Fishing


from this week of December, 1979  (I was 35)

         This Fishing
I don’t fish
but I’d bet there are many fishermen
who’ve gone out for the day
with no intention of catching a thing
The idea is to throw the line in the water
recover and cast it out again

There are some people you must keep
from this kind of fishing
These people are serious fishermen
who have the true objective of catching fish in mind
They cannot appreciate ulterior motives
They do not understand a hook without bait

This fishing is done most effectively in solitaire
It is best to imitate the stillness of the water
and best to fish only upon still water
The target of the cast is the center ring
of the ripple it creates 
The act is the act  Reflection is distortion
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