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!

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

There is enough pain


April 11, 1970  (I was 25)

There is enough pain
Not many will question that
Pains strong as blights
They’ve become immune to pesticides
taken refuge in the dark furrows of the brain
They gather in flourishing numbers
I have nourished them with the guilt of a creator
How many pain seeds have I planted today
I farm your mind as you farm mine
with good intentions for a profitable harvest
Then we desert at the first sign of disease
blaming the tenant
hating the seedy wind
I need migrant workers
who have long accepted such things
thoughts with a respect for locusts
black handed surgeons who understand
medicine and agriculture demand more than mechanics
Ideas who know the weeds of others
lie dormant in themselves
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)