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.


Comments Welcome!

Thursday, April 5, 2018

That man sits every night


April 5, 1972  (I was 27)

That man sits every night
trying to find a reason or excuse
for yet another episode in the continuing saga
Days and dreams can be confused
       in this film I play
       a short man who goes to work at eight
       everyday like a long run of Hairy Ape
       but with helplessly aware characters
        
       in another flick I’m never sure
       of who I am or how I’m motivated
       but I have the highest ideals
       and people place me in positions
Every night that man looks
but can’t even figure out
what it was he did that day
and whether or not he did it alone
       people on tv     
       really know how to live
       and only the unimportant guys die
       also there are a lot of cartoons
      
       I always wanted to play someone creative
       like a musician or writer
       not biographical
       but really intelligent fiction
Some nights that man writes it all down
without analysis
until it becomes absurd
and he can go to bed

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