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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Sunday, March 25, 2018

The remains of my mother were buried today


March 25, 2015  (I was 70)

The remains of my mother were buried today

When he became the rose she became the brier
His heart blossomed her skin toughened
When petals fell she preserved the fragrance
in the very root of her yearning soul
Intemperate times strengthened the thorn
Attempts to wrest her hold on memory
met by stinging barbs of comparison
until after years no similes were needed
staunch years brittle and worn
Leafless sixty-four springs later she rests
next to him with so much to tell

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