an old writer and his words

  • ALMOST, NOT QUITE

    The rains finally came the other day,not the tropical storms that this seasonpromises, those will come laterwe are assured by the weathermenwho sometimes struggle to describewhat is happening outside their windows.It was the sort of rain we had almostforgotten during our tropical droughtwhich, yes, does seem like a contradictionin terms until you look at the…

    Lou Faber

  • CRANING

    I wait patiently for the wingsto move, as though attachedto a butterfly slowly emergingfrom her too brief chrysalis home.I want to feel the air shiftever so gently as shelifts into a cloudless sky.I want to marvel atthe grace she showsswooping overhead,then alighting once again.But I am no God,no origami masterand so my cranes sitwith their…

    Lou Faber

  • FOUR HAIKU

    The aging man staresat the passing flock of ducksimagining flight Green Heron looksout over the placid pondsmall fish get nervous Sandhill Cranes watch usstopping to take their picturethey refuse to smile the heat of summerrises off the warming pondducks paddle to shore

    Lou Faber

  • SHE

    She is territorial in a modest way. She can sit for hours looking out on the yard and the now dry wetland beyond. The birds come and go and she watches. They do not bother her and she does not bother them. They are part of the landscape, as she now is, she imagines. Even…

    Lou Faber

  • CLICK

    It was three weeks ago when Ilast saw the Great Egret foragingfor twigs and sticks to carry backto the nest it was building, it beinga neutral pronoun since Egretsand many birds do not abide bystrange human gender drivendivisions of labor and child rearing.I so wanted to sneak out backwith my camera and catchthe moment when…

    Lou Faber

  • KARMA

    The birds offered metheir blessing this morningbefore lifting gracefullyfrom our wetlandinto another cloudless sky.They did so reluctantly,the blessing I mean,knowing what my specieswas capable of, whatwe had already doneto their ancestral habitats.They blessed me regardlessfor they understoodthe laws of karmaand would not wantto be forced in the next lifeto return as human beings.

    Lou Faber

  • BREATHING

    Somewhere at this very momenta baby takes its first breath,a man dies unexpectedly,a fledgeling bird takes flight,a star is bornor enters its death throes,one of the last of a species is gone,a battle is fought in a senseless war,a waterway is fouled with pollution,smog grips a city,an old man clings to memories.I am still aliveand…

    Lou Faber

  • JUST STOP

    Stop what you are doing,put down your devices,turn off whatever you are streamingand look around you.Take careful note of what you see,inventory it if you wish.Now use your mind is a Time Machineimagine yourself right heretwo hundred, then four hundredand then a thousand years ago.What do you see? How is that worlddifferent from this one?…

    Lou Faber

  • WRITING

    I have a Chinese friendwho says I should write poemsabout pomegranates and chrysanthemums.A Japanese business acquaintance sayspoems should be populated by sakura and Lotus.I tend to think of their advicein the deadest days of winterwhen snow presses against the houseas if seeking its faint warmth.As I thinly sliced the tender shootsof bamboo and dampen the…

    Lou Faber

  • THREE HAIKU

    in truly livingtime should be of no matterthere is only now the great egret knowsthat the sky is a sanctumdenied to humans still dreaming of flightmy feet sink ever deeperin the mud of life

    Lou Faber