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 10, 2019

Behind the screen


May 10, 2009  (I was 64)

Behind the screen:
            the embroidered image is reversed
            on the silken Japanese landscape
            muted sheen of a silent pond
            miso and sushi
Behind the screen:
            spatters from the surgeon’s cut
            the nurse practices
            deadpan bedpan humor
Behind the screen:
            the puppeteer pulls the strings 
            shadow puppets are cast
            giants and dwarfs
            the deferential fool falls dead
            stabbed in the abdomen
Behind the screen:
            the drama ends
            a dusty backstage
            the door leads to the alley
Behind the screen:
            the priest hears sins
            wizardry is revealed
            in charlatan platitudes
            anonymity is ensured
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