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, March 13, 2017

Among the world class climbers


March 13, 2014  (I was 69)

Among the world class climbers
ascending El Capitan and Glacier Peak
or those in the high country snow-shoeing
or cross country skiing to distant campsites
or hang gliding with the raptors
or the even more mad cliff divers
who put their lives at the end of a ripcord
I will apply antiperspirant and ride
a rented bike around the valley floor
I know what happened to the other half of Half Dome
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