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!

Thursday, February 13, 2020

non-participant


February 13,2007  (I was 62)

         non-participant
Spent so many years being the expert
It feels good to shrug and say I don’t know

I won’t touch a lottery ticket the state sells
to fund education (hah!) and crooks

I won’t pay for bottled water
no better than from the city tap

I won’t watch a commercial
with the remote in my hand

I won’t advocate pre-emptive military
strikes to secure oil

I won’t believe testimony procured
through torture and mental duress

I won’t trust an administration
that lies as a matter of policy
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