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!

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Stanley likes to skate


September 29, 2010  (I was 65)

Stanley likes to skate
Ollie buys the tickets
Stanley watches the performer practicing
and imitates his confident stride
Ollie knows he is out of shape
and the cost of medical bills
sees another tumble and skates along the rail
Stanley rounds the curve to hook Ollie’s arm
Stanley slows Ollie gets up to speed
Stanley glides in humble pride
Ollie in arrogant fear
a competent partnering

-I began a series of pieces using Laurel and Hardy as
representations of right brain and left brain perception.
Not an original idea, I got it from Colin Wilson’s study,
Frankenstein’s Castle.  More appear in other posts.
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