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, May 11, 2018

Nowadays I sit to write


May 11, 1998  (I was 53)

Nowadays I sit to write
with whatever purpose for initial motivation
knowing that it is only a game
to get me in proximity to paper
with a pen in hand
and that whatever will be written
has little to do with any thought
preceding the writing
It is a comfortable talent
something akin to navigation
by the seat of the pants
an apt metaphor
for an activity whose source
is conventionally considered to be
anchored in intellect

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