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, October 12, 2018

A lecturing professor of sensory perception


From this week in October 2017  (I was 72)

A lecturing professor of sensory perception
mentioned parenthetically he experienced
a synesthetic response to the scent of eucalyptus
associating it with a meditative state of relaxation
I feel a kinship to that recognition 
Today I began my walk under eucalyptus trees
broke an oily leaf to release the scent
reaffirming the mind-settling impression
further awakening other olfactory sensations
present in each breath as I strolled near other trees 
mown grass musky bark and moldy ground cover
Crisp breeze pulled clouds over East Bay hills
smelling like October
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