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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Sunday, May 1, 2022

The old men have spots on their pants

 

May 1, 2009  (I was 64)

 

The old men have spots on their pants

in places that should embarrass them

They do not see them

They no longer have reason

to suspect they might have spots on their pants

 

The old men grumble under breath

about things that would embarrass them

if they thought anyone heard

They no longer have the attention

of any near enough to listen

 

The old men tremble at the table

in a tremor that could embarrass them

if it overturned the furniture

They no longer have the influence

to register an after-shock

 

The old men issue perplexing odors

tainted wafts that might embarrass them

They don’t smell a thing

They no longer have to discriminate

aroma from taste

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