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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Saturday, October 30, 2021

Used to be us against them

 

from this week in October 2014  (I was 69)

 

Used to be us against them

now it’s us against us

What the f happened

One of us shot five of us

in McDonald’s and it wasn’t

even over money

One of our kids shot five of our kids

in the school yard

They weren’t friends except on the phone

and that wasn’t enough

It wasn’t over money when one killed

the best teacher they ever had

and five of our kids took pictures

selfies as she fell to her knees

Her last breath posted on Facebook

 

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