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, January 22, 2022

Give your coins to the beggar

 

January 22, 1978. (I was 33)

 

Give your coins to the beggar

Who greets you as you enter the city

It is not good to arrive with the curse of the outcast

The city does not feed him

So he taxes the visitors

He has remained a stranger here

The spare change that separates you from him

Acknowledges your momentary brotherhood

Proceed directly to the place you are welcome

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