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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Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Behind the screen


May 10, 2009  (I was 64)

Behind the screen:
         the embroidered image is reversed
         on the silken Japanese landscape
         muted sheen of a silent pond
         miso and sushi
Behind the screen:
         spatters from the surgeon’s cut
         the nurse practices
         deadpan bedpan humor
Behind the screen:
         the puppeteer pulls the strings 
         shadow puppets are cast
         giants and dwarves
         the deferential fool falls dead
         stabbed in the abdomen
Behind the screen:
         the drama ends
         a dusty backstage
         the door leads to the alley
Behind the screen:
         the priest hears sins
         wizardry is revealed
         in charlatan platitudes
         anonymity is ensured
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