an old writer and his words

  • WHAT DID YOU DO

    When they asked him what did you do during the war he said “I just stood guard.” When they asked him where he said “A station, just a station, like most others, I just stood guard.” When they asked him did you see the trains carrying the bodies crammed into cattle cars he said “I…

    Lou Faber

  • ENGLISH CLASS

    He had planned the exercise for weeks, certain this one would allow them to break through the wall that had imprisoned the metaphors within them. It was simple, and that was its beauty, too many attempts had become bogged down, mired in the fear that words could do the greatest harm. The exercise is simple,…

    Lou Faber

  • ALOFT

    As a child I often flew kites, which is to say that I ran haphazardly pulling a string and dragging a wood frames paper rhombus across the park. My father laughed until seeing me on the edge of tears he took up the string and dragged the kite across the park. One day a strong…

    Lou Faber

  • THOU SHALT NOT

    “I don’t want to” is hardly a sagacious way to run a country and “just because” probably didn’t work when you were a child, why would you think adults would accept it now? And when we all expressed our displeasure, disdain and contempt, which part of “no” did you have trouble grasping, Mr. President? The…

    Lou Faber

  • A SHORT LONG LINE

    There is a statue of William Penn atop the city hall in Philadelphia seeming to stare down over the city with bronze eyes incapable of seeing. Hagar wandered the wilderness after she was evicted by Abraham at Sarah’s urging, the price of jealousy, with bread and water and the promise of a great nation. It…

    Lou Faber

  • MIDDLE C

    Mrs. Weiskopf lived in a small cottage Mrs. Weiskopf taught piano in her living room. Mrs. Weiskopf had no first name, even checks were to be made payable to Mrs. Weiskopf. Mrs. Weiskopf grew suddenly old, some said, to full fit into her name, no one could remember her ever being young. Mrs. Weiskopf said…

    Lou Faber

  • ACROSS AN ABYSS

    A Palestinian woman tells her son she loves him as he leaves their home in much the same words as does the Israeli woman to her son. The Palestinian woman would never consider these words as having anything to do with a young Israeli. The Israeli mother would be horrified to think of speaking the…

    Lou Faber

  • GRANDSON

    This Sunday, I know, we will take another journey through mythology, today a sail down the Lethe, no doubt, or perhaps a careful avoidance of the Styx. He will speak of Thanatos and Mors, and will tell me not to be sad, and with his sad smile, I will not be, and though he is…

    Lou Faber

  • NOM

    He is fond of the name Alejandro Carlos Ernesto Rodrigo Guttierez. The fact is he loves the name. He knows it has a certain nobility to it. It embodies and conveys strength and character. It is a source of pride and great satisfaction. The name makes him taller, bolder. There is so much in a…

    Lou Faber

  • WAITING FOR

    It was lying there, on the ground, waiting to be noticed, unsure of why everyone walked by, some glancing, most lost in thought. It hadn’t been there long, but certainly long enough to be seen, of that it was certain, yet there it lay staring crimson at the sun overhead, and even the one passing…

    Lou Faber