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.


Comments Welcome!

Tuesday, July 5, 2022

They went to war by choice

 

from this week in July 2016  (I was 71)

 

    They went to war by choice

to vent and give voice to rant

from a pent violence

They learned to kill

as a matter of will

 

Here’s your boots and how

your weapon shoots

You go to the desert

you dress like dirt

 

They take what they need to succeed

cover their bros’ backs even

when they seldom relax

 

deployed rather than employed

never entreated utilized til depleted

Things blew up technology too

In their minds fuses were lit

 

They took what they need to survive

skills of the will and pills for the pains

Whatever they took they took home

 

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