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, April 6, 2018

Instructions for the Greenhouse


April 6, 1975  (I was 30)

Instructions for the Greenhouse
If you build the greenhouse out of found lumber
and 4 mil plastic sheeting
it will cost practically
and be the size of your sunny spot
When it rains hard first the meekly angled roof
supported by nylon guy lines
will sag and break the one-by-four support
Repair it with inexpensive metal braces
and cut door shaped flaps in the ceiling
low spots after you tighten the nylon
These will allow the rain to drain
through your tanbark floor without damage
after you have moved your plants
and seedlings out of the way
In clement weather the doors can be closed
with plastic tape hasps easily reopened when
the next rain becomes the biennial hail storm
and slush clogs the drain holes
Be there to poke your fingers through
and the ice water will pour your sleeves
with a few more wider windows cut
By this time you will have plants to save
and it will be invigorating
The survival of the continuing green world
will be necessary
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