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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Tuesday, December 25, 2018

I’ve ignored daily evidence


December 25, 1976  (I was 32)

I’ve ignored daily evidence
disregarded the point of each lesson
So now it is I’ve flunked visceral learning
I have not had the compassion
to massage my own neck
It’s not that I lacked the feeling
but settled for powder in the stomach
when I could have conjured organic bicarbonates
bubbles in the brain
Dilated pupils should not be overexposed to sunlight
elementary enough
but not more primary than good posture
nor more essential than breathing good air
It is a corruption of the knowledgeable
to believe occasional indiscretions will be overlooked
in the face of their general wisdom
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