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, October 15, 2020

The weight is a common metaphor

 

from this week in October, 2019  (I was 75)

 

The weight is a common metaphor

When applied its meaning is rarely mistaken

responsibility and expectation

Once taken up it must be carried

to satisfy a faulty perception

a self-conceived obligation

in the karmic progression of choices

a repayment of nothing owed

a vengeful protection of lost allegiance

the totality of guilts and regrets

that refuse to pass in time

the presumption of Atlas

refusing to cast it off his shoulders

a failure to laugh at a ridiculous endeavor

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