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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Thursday, June 17, 2021

If you buy groceries in Sunol you buy them at Ben’s

 

June 17, 1978  (I was 33)

 

If you buy groceries in Sunol you buy them at Ben’s

it’s a lesson in the cost of convenience

to learn to pay his prices gladly

Time is the main thing Ben deals

 

When Ben does business quietly

he is out of sorts

One uncharitable might say disinterested

Still most often he’s flashing gold from the teeth

 

Knowing you Ben will joke and flirt with your young cousin

and ask how things are with your work

And when someone calls to him

Hey Chink, where’s the beer?

he hands over your bag and thanks you

before showing him where

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