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, March 28, 2022

The rapidity which we matter-of-factly employ

 

March 28, 2001  (I was 56) 

 

The rapidity which we matter-of-factly employ

while jumping from the still moving car

as to run alongside to jostle the carriage

until the sprung wheel bounces back upon the track

seems but second nature and unremarkable

unless we consciously reflect upon it

after we spring back on board and settle back

into our seat and re-accelerate in our descent

Even then it seems only relatively quick

and inspired by the necessity of the moment

the kind of speed recognized only in failure

by those who stumble by the wayside

while the car careens on three wheels

or disengages completely

crashing or skidding to a halt

a momentary distraction to preoccupied witnesses

 

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