an old writer and his words

  • READING PAUL MULDOON

    Reading Paul Muldoon this afternoonI thought of you for no reason.It wasn’t your birthday, notthat you celebrate them where you are,nor the anniversary of the day you died.And it certainly was not becauseI was reading about Ireland sinceI never imagined I had Irish blood, andyou never went there, and when I didI didn’t know you…

    Lou Faber

  • OLD BLIND DOGS

    There are times when music takes youto places and events long forgotten, likelistening to Old Blind Dogs and suddenlyI am again a new L2 with two yearsto the J.D. and bar exam, scratching byteaching SAT prep courses, when she calledand said the proverbial rabbit died and Ifinished and broke out in hives for thiswas planned,…

    Lou Faber

  • NO ENTRY

    . Each night we go off to bedand close the bedroom doorbarring the cat from entryinto our sanctuary, the onlyroom in the house she is notfree to roam at her will.We do this because we are allergic,because she is a cat and cannotbe trusted not to do somethingwe might regret in the morning,because she is…

    Lou Faber

  • FUNERIAL

    There are two types of gravesidefunerals for most people,three in my case, for twiceI have conducted the service wheremy attention was focusedon the prayers I would read.The two other types differ onlyin whether the departedis a close relativeor beloved friend,or someone more distantwhere you attend out of duty.For the beloved your attentionis on the casket…

    Lou Faber

  • GONE STILL

    Gone21 yearsstill lookingas you did81 years agoin the Morris HarveyCollege yearbookand that is how,and only how,you will everlook to memother. Thatand the tombstoneon which I criedthree years agowhen we metfor the first time.

    Lou Faber

  • MISSED MEETING

    On Saturday it will be21 years since I missedthe last chance to meet my mother.If this seems strange to youimagine how it is for me, how itit is to have your mother dieat 82 and you now 70saying you never got to meet.You’ve guessed correctly that Iam an adoptee, but did you knowI waited so…

    Lou Faber

  • FRUITFUL

    The world, I am willing to bet,would be a far different placeif couples fully knew what to expectbefore deciding to have theirfirst child, but hope springseternal so why not try and get it rightthe second or third time around?You have to wonder how manytwo-or-more child families there would beif parents were required to waitat least…

    Lou Faber

  • RECONSTRUCTIONS

    Night descended on herlike an elevator untethered,her memories in freefall into darkness.She could not forget the storiesthe elder ones quietly told,the numbers always clothed over,their smiles forced or freely given,depending on the directionof the ever-present winds of emotion.She knew she was a prisoner of her past,her inheritance both joys and horrorsinterwoven into the fabric of…

    Lou Faber

  • THIS IS WHAT IT IS

    It happened unexpectedly,but then perhaps it always happensunexpectedly, though in my firstthirty year effort it never fully happenedand its momentary flickerswere no more than quickly fading embers.This time it happened early on,arrived without warning, thentook up residence and broughtwith it a silence where breathsgrew synchronous and words,our stock in trade, were renderedsuperfluous, synapses magically linked.And…

    Lou Faber

  • BAREFOOT

    He says his favorite cloudsall wear size seven shoes.He knows she believesshe once saw a paisley rainbowand will never forget it.She wears size seven shoesand her tears can be torrential,yet they can still nurturethe first flowers of spring.He imagines her a butterflysitting on the back of his hand,gossamer wings poisedat the thin edge of stillness.He…

    Lou Faber