an old writer and his words

  • I HAVE NEVER BEEN

    six foot four with a full headof longish brown hair neatly cut five foot ten as the Air Forceclaimed although I neverconformed to their assumption sitting on the deck of a yachttrying to decide if it wassufficiently large enoughto meet my desires sitting on a beach in Hawaiimy oceanside villamere steps away,the housekeeper beckoningwith a…

    Lou Faber

  • NOT COUNTING

    I have had two,although the first is longforgotten, so perhaps itno longer counts, itcertainly didn’t to her,announcing its endlike the conductorof a train running lateon the mainline to sadness. Perhaps I have not forgottenbut all I see is myselfstanding alone, intoningwords to which the crowdintently listens, much likethe audience at a readingby a lesser known…

    Lou Faber

  • MISSING SONGS

    The problem, or one of them, isthe lack of music today. We haveall manner of what people call music,but not the music of the sortwe need, needed once and found,as we stormed the bastionsand bastards who mired us in war,who shunned darker brothersand sisters, who made alienablebasic rights to half of us withoutrhyme or reason,…

    Lou Faber

  • AVERAGE

    I am indistinct, maleof reasonable heightand weight, a bit muchmore than I care,but hardly distinct. I have not sufferedmysogeny, beenoverlooked forbeing the wronggender, as ifthere is rightand wrong. I have not feltthe stingof racism, I ammerely oneof the lemmingsmarching alongto the abysscertain of myprivilege, ableto cede myhumanity.

    Lou Faber

  • IF ONLY

    As I have aged, I hopeI have gotten smarteror at least more ableto adapt to life’s issues. But there are still areaswhere knowledge fails,where you cannot hopeto attain what you want. World peace is one such,honest politicians another,and the list could go onbut you get the picture. The ultimate failure howeveris imagining that you can…

    Lou Faber

  • PLAYLIST

    I realize now justhow old I have gotten,no laughing any longer at the old men alwaystucking pills into a sorterneatly marked by day and time, for I now do my ownweekly, the number of pillsseeming to propogate by month. I suppose it is timeto begin working in earneston the playlist for my funeral. I’ll be…

    Lou Faber

  • AMAZONIA

    There will, I am certain, come a day when I will need to do nothing. My computer and my apps will know what I want, will obtain it without asking, will expect my thanks when it arrives, even if they are incapable of understanding what thank you means in a human world. They already plague…

    Lou Faber

  • MASKING

    The Air Force shaved our heads, was itbecause of the heat of a San Antoniosummer or that we’ll all look equally like fools,and easier for Sarge to maintain unitcohesiveness in his rag tag bandof semi-successful Army avoiders. Now we all wear masks and assumewe all look equally foolish, knowingthe virus cares nothing for cohesiveness,and normal…

    Lou Faber

  • INJECTION SEAT

    Another day, another needle,it is the cost of growing older,I suppose, and does beatthe alternatives, but still,I am growing tired of feelinglike an underappreciated pin cushion. And please, it is not necessaryfor you to smile while pushingthe needle into whateverbody part wins the prizeas that day’s recipient, leaveme to decide whether to smile. And I’m…

    Lou Faber

  • CUISINE

    When I was younger (much), Icould wander Manhattan and bewhat any neighborhood required,so long as I stayed southof 110th Street or north of 155th. I was Greek ordering gyros,Russian at the Tea Room,Italian along Mulberry and Canal,although in Chinatown I was justsomeone who wandered a bit farfrom the heart of Little Italy. I could order…

    Lou Faber