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, July 5, 2018

They went to war by choice


from this week in July 2016  (I was 71)

    They went to war by choice
to vent and give voice to rant
from a pent violence
They learned to kill
as a matter of will

Here’s your boots and how
your weapon shoots
You go to the desert
you dress like dirt

They take what they need to succeed
cover their bros’ backs even
when they seldom relax

deployed rather than employed
never entreated utilized til depleted
Things blew up technology too
In their minds fuses were lit

They took what they need to survive
skills of the will and pills for the pains
Whatever they took they took home
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