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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Thursday, April 19, 2018

I suppose


April 19, 1972  (I was 27)

I suppose
everyone walks around with many pains
I once took a pill to relieve pain
and it did
One by one I could count
each joint loosening limbering-
such un-preoccupied awareness!
Muscles relaxed also anxieties
My spine straightened
carried energy like a hose
The pill wore off of course
Then the completeness of its relief
was most strongly felt
as each injury returned
torn fingernail muscle pull in neck
also fatigue guilt cynicism
anger despair and insomnia
causing supposition

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