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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Monday, July 19, 2021

The mechanical brush

 

July 19, 1978  (I was 33)

 

The mechanical brush as machines pass in the hallway

the spark that jumps from the lip of one electrode to another

the clap of like-charges meeting in midair

space hardware passing orbits after obligatory pirouette

modified mating move without the actual docking

a cool maneuver of recognition, a courtesy

Daytime programming never sells as well as night

The first time we listened to the alarm clock together

that was the beginning the impatient social harangue

standing naked and admitting obligation

bumping heads as we grabbed for the bell

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