an old writer and his words

  • YOU, REALLY

    Would it surprise you to learnthat like most writers, Ihave spent more than a littleguilty time trying to imaginewhat you look like, what you knowyou should be doingwhile you are reading this poem. And I do wish I couild seeyour face as you read it, knowingit is a conversation whereyou want to speak, to tell…

    Lou Faber

  • EMERGENT

    When I least expect it, onemay unfurl wings and liftinto a clouded sky searchingfor the hidden sun, or it may wander off, a childmomentarily free of parentsoff to discover the real world, or it may retreat back intothe pen, unwilling to be seen,objecting to its misuse, or it may sit in front of the TVand…

    Lou Faber

  • CHATTER

    The cat tells me thatlong after we have goneto bed for the night shehears the argumentsof the authors of the bookslining our living room shelves. The poets, she says, quibbleover rhyme and meter, claimthis one is academic, thatone merely skilled in doggerel. And don’t, she adds, get herstarted on the Buddhistauthors, who argue endlesslyover their…

    Lou Faber

  • IN MOURNING

    I will soon enough bein mourning for literatureand philosophy for the momentis approaching when theywill be lost, or I supposesimply subsumed, swallowedup in a cloud appearingmomentarily then gone. The day is rapidly approachingand if you doubt itfor even a moment, goto your local library, ifit has not closed, and notethe diminishing numberof books, replacedby computers,…

    Lou Faber

  • WISHFUL

    “I will take it,”the aging poet saidto the ever more sparsecrowd at the weeklyopen mic,“as a recognitionis the growthin the qualityof my writingthat I continuebeing rejectedbut now by amuch higherquality ofliterary journals.”

    Lou Faber

  • NOT EVEN CLOSE

    It was Salvador Dali who once said:“Have no fear of perfection,you’ll never reach it.”It might have easily have beenmy creative writing professorin College, although he wouldhave added, “and in your caseI doubt you’ll ever get close.” Well over time I havecertainly proved Dali right,although I’d like to thinkthe esteemed professormissed the mark, butas Cage said,…

    Lou Faber

  • INSTRUCTIONS TO MY ENGLISH LIT CLASS

    First, read the syllabusand buy the books we will read.Note that I have carefully selectedworks for which there are no Cliff Notesor their equivalent, so if you werecounting on that consider yourself screwed. When you write an essay, do not ever,let me emphasize EVER, begin by sayingin my opinion, for if I wantedan opinion on…

    Lou Faber

  • THE BARD OF BROOKLYN?

    If he were to appear here suddenlyI suspect Shakespeare wouldbe running a small theater groupin Brooklyn catering to an audiencedrawn mostly from the LGBTQcommunity, alternating productionsof gays and lesbians with Transand gender fluid having free choiceto reflect their true selves and notin the roles genetics cast them. If you asked him why, he’d saythat it…

    Lou Faber

  • DARE I SAY

    Few will dare say it, but Ihave always imagined myselfamong the few at most thingsso I suppose it falls to me. The lifecycle of the poetincises an arc and there arerecognizable nodes along its pathfrom beginning to end. The first poem published in ajournal, no matter how small,then one in a publication othershave heard of,…

    Lou Faber

  • A QUESTION OF TIMING

    Umberto Eco, I believe,intending to or not,has found the perfect wayto bring classic playsback to life, to enable usto reinterpret theseold works, to hold theirreincarnated selves dear. All you need do is decidewhether you are onewho prefers beginningsor finds ends more satisfying. Go see Hamlet, but missthe first act or so, and museon why he…

    Lou Faber