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, March 28, 2018

The rapidity which we matter-of-factly employ


March 28, 2001  (I was 56) 

The rapidity which we matter-of-factly employ
while jumping from the still moving car
as to run alongside to jostle the carriage
until the sprung wheel bounces back upon the track
seems but second nature and unremarkable
unless we consciously reflect upon it
after we spring back on board and settle back
into our seat and re-accelerate in our descent
Even then it seems only relatively quick
and inspired by the necessity of the moment
the kind of speed recognized only in failure
by those who stumble by the wayside
while the car careens on three wheels
or disengages completely
crashing or skidding to a halt
a momentary distraction to preoccupied witnesses
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