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, December 28, 2019

Non Parla L’Italiano


December 28, 1998  (I was 55) 

         Non Parla L’Italiano
The scattered sensibilities of long-distance travel
renewed realization that no one anywhere
speaks guide-book-slow
even the most obvious spoken words
are dialectically enunciated into in-coherence
In the fatigue and frustration
street signs disappear
behind ads cars people and onto buildings
Even compact luggage weighs heavy on the hip
while Rick Stev-ing the train and the metro
Immediate paranoia and embarrassment of cultural ignorance
Suspicions of being gypped because money
costs more than you think it does
eventually begins to yield to accommodations found
comfortable and reasonable and patient direction
a good meal and rest
Tomorrow we will not be tourists
We will be citizens of Roma
SPQR
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