an old writer and his words

  • 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

  • MISSING

    In my dreamI went for a walk alonga boardwalk but therewas no beach to be seen.I came across a little girlsitting, leaning againstthe railing, forlorn woulddescribe her fairly.I took off one of mygray socks, a black seamacross the toe, stuck iton my hand, nowa sock puppet.She smiled so Igave her the sock.She arose and seemedto…

    Lou Faber

  • ALIGNMENT

    There was that moment oncewhen everything seemed alignedeverything where it should beand time ceasing to matter.You wondered if this hadhappened before, hopingto grasp the moment, elongatedso that time would slow to a crawl.Now you wonder if that moment,or one just like it, will come again,how would it be different,how would you be different?Was it truly…

    Lou Faber

  • DEAR SIR OR MADAM

    Dear politician:I received what seemedlike a stream of emails from youthis week and I would like youto stop sending them, but of courseyour unsubscribe link doesn’t work.I trust you got it from the same peoplethat fail to wire the Close Door buttonson nearly every elevator I have ridden.Please know you are wastingyour time seeking money…

    Lou Faber

  • FOLLOW THE TRAIL

    To say that I am a wanderer isto vastly overstate the reality.I have wandered quite a bitin my life, but that wanderingwas always predicated on happenstanceand a true wanderer, by definition,wanders with the intent of doing so.I was never looking for anythingmerely a sense of direction, an ideaof how I got to this point, whatforces…

    Lou Faber

  • ACT 1

    His life was a collapsing theaterof the absurd and he was holding on tightlybut it was slipping through his fingers.It was not supposed to be this way,this was not the play he envisioned, yethe was here, in a cold table read, andnone of the assembled were certain wherethe evolving script might take them.He had imagined…

    Lou Faber

  • REFRAMED DREAMS

    In my reframed dreamI am sitting in a smoky bar,bathed in the neon of Roppongi.with the sour smell of Sapporo and Asahiwafting up from the beer-damp floor.I don’t want to be here, wantto be miles and miles from this placein the shadows of Mount Wakakusawalking slowly through Todai-jiin search of something I haveyet to find,…

    Lou Faber

  • LOOKING IN

    You are standing on the edgepeering in, wondering ifit is always this way, alwaysundulating between sheer joyand frustration, swept upin the calm and maelstromthat is a large family, wishingyou had that family for yours.There is always great love,and you can sense that, butthere is a tension, a frictionof personalities rubbing againsteach other, building a heatthat…

    Lou Faber

  • SPRING RAIN

    The last flowers rain downfrom the cherry trees, a pervasivesadness announcing summer’s approach.We would welcome it, but wefear its possible wrath for allseasons show their anger to us.as if to cast blame on us for ignoringtheir beauty, their bounty, assumingtheir offerings will recur despiteour misbegotten changes to whatthey have always relied on, our arroganceand greed…

    Lou Faber

  • CONTACT

    When did it become surprisingfor a stranger passing on the sidewalkto offer a nod or even a hello?Perhaps it is a matter of geography,in some states, the warmer ones,it does seem much more common,or perhaps it is a matter more local,common in this neighborhoodnot nearly so much in that one,and downtown it is a complete…

    Lou Faber