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, July 23, 2020

What Can I Say, Read Bottle Imp First

from this week in July, 2006 (I was 61)

 

What Can I Say, Read Bottle Imp First

 

So now I have a Bright House

upon a hillside somewhat north of Hononau

Where Stevenson’s Keawe had his

 

Though Hibiscus Halè is less lavish

with a veranda but three quarters round

and fewer toys within

 

still it brings me joy to share with my Kokua

and it was not purchased from the bottle

with wishes expressed to the imp

 

It is nevertheless luxurious enough

by most standards of the world

to challenge the righteousness of ownership

 

It seems to want to share itself

in a hot land often coveted by personal greed

the contagious cause of the Chinese Evil

 

that spreads to devour all it touches

an isolation of complete abandon

unless one gives back in the spirit of Kokua

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