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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Friday, March 23, 2018

Once they begin to think about it


March 23, 1998  (I was 53)

Once they begin to think about it
all the poets know
the simple common images
make the strongest symbols

and they write about the dog bark
the rain and whistle of train in the dark
the brush of the cat against the pane
and a walk in the park to keep them sane

Once they feel the pattern of the scheme
and understand the stream of consciousness
is no more than the unconsciousness of dream
the image is greater than the theme

Making the boat emerge from the fog
is not figuring the because
but merely saying it does
What drives the boat is monologue
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