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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Wednesday, June 17, 2020

I have given up all my vices


from this week in June, 1973 (I was 28)

I have given up all my vices
and the day moves in a slow flat pace.
I have given up my glasses for repair
and I’ve found there is nothing to see.
I sleep sober and wake up healthy.
My dreams are innocuous haunts;
insignificant characters pull pranks.
I eat eggs toast and salad.
Maybe I’ll burn out my brain drinking tea.

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