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, December 16, 2021

family out there

 

December 16, 2006  (I was 62)

 

         family out there

Long it seemed like circumstance

moved the family along its way

an epidemic that made one listen

a death to change a dream

iron mine shut down for good

burned buildings to make one move

Storms in the winter won’t let you go

thaw of summer says get out now

Once I heard voices I had to make choices

choice by chance rarely by reason

beyond convenience expedience or season

Fearing not knowing fearing inability to know

No world to match the vision

no ambition to match the world

I’ve had neither the heat nor light

to bring us all together

We occupy our different days

In my haze I wonder about your weather

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