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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Wednesday, January 12, 2022

Running along banks of the dry creek bed

 

from this week in 1987  (I was 42) 

 

Running along banks of the dry creek bed

on a path under eucalyptus toward setting sun

then across the bed and back eastward

under white full winter moon rising

the runner encounters passes from half a dozen

young cyclists whining on their space age bikes

in labeled armor and anonymous helmets

They are suburban safe unsupervised

revving up over moguls and through chutes in the creek

they gathered in neutral under the moon

Younger admirers on bicycles group atop the sunny ridge

Four times the lapping runner passes their pit stops

each time stronger steadier more distant

countering speed with endurance

feeling at least a little more in command of the old machine

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