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, August 15, 2018

Such intensity of competition


August 15, 1994  (I was 49)

Such intensity of competition found in petty amusements,
international humiliation and murder in World Cup Soccer.
Some actually dream about Dream Teams.  The homeless do not
care if the city loses its franchise.  The stadium could
become their city.  Ball players strike and no one laughs.
Team owners need special rules to prevent themselves
from paying high salaries and special dispensations
to declare their game a National Treasure to protect profits.
Boys stay boys until they are cut from a team.
Some never make it.  Prosecutors agree great running backs
cannot be truly criminal in our truly criminal sense.
I say stab any tennis player in the back
and break the knees of any skater who dares to play
before a paying audience.  Then arrest the audience for solicitation.
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