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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Saturday, October 5, 2019

My contribution to the talent gene pool


October 5, 1998  (I was 53)

My contribution to the talent gene pool
is marching tonight in practice
to the music of Zorro on the Amador field
senior Nathan and freshman Lauren
a week or so before the first field show
The band sounds strong this Indian summer evening
from our second story window three blocks away
I am proud to hear them define the moment for me
their public expression against my private reflection
During silences they receive criticism instruction praise
and the yard fountain resumes its melodies
a bus accelerates in arpeggio
the timpanic jet liner drones above Then the band
gallops out of the night under the pale moon light…
My 50% improvement by dilution is marching tonight
with a cadenced discipline and instrumental force
I hope will sustain heroic perceptions of self
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