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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Monday, December 16, 2019

family out there


December 16, 2006  (I was 62)

         family out there
Long it seemed like circumstance
moved the family along its way
an epidemic that made one listen
a death to change a dream
iron mine shut down for good
burned buildings to make one move
Storms in the winter won’t let you go
thaw of summer says get out now
Once I heard voices I had to make choices
choice by chance rarely by reason
beyond convenience expedience or season
Fearing not knowing fearing inability to know
No world to match the vision
no ambition to match the world
I’ve had neither the heat nor light
to bring us all together
We occupy our different days
In my haze I wonder about your weather
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