an old writer and his words

  • NOVEMBER EVENING

    He sits calmly in the cornerof the restaurant redolent with curryand cardamom.He smiles, unseen,his third eyes staresdeeply felt on the backof my neck.Her eyes draw me inoffering a serenity.She smiles freelyand I recall the parkin the shadow of the mountainsthe soft touch of velvetand the empressalongside the fool.It is too soon donebut the soft furof…

    Lou Faber

  • RULES

    I learned from John Berrymanby way of W.S. Merwin that as a poetI should paper my walls with rejection letters.I thought this a good idea whenI lived in a small apartment, butall too soon the walls appearedto be growing ever smallerand I was papering over paper,like the latest in a too longline of tenants who…

    Lou Faber

  • TOZAN’S NO GRASS

    When you wanderin search of the waydo you stop at a meadowreplete with wildflowersor the barren fieldbereft of grass and plants.The wise man knowsthe barren fieldis the garden he needs. A reflection on Case 89 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • FLUTING

    She says that since the cochlear implantall she hears is battling flutists, and she adds“you know how I hate the flute.”I remind her that she did love Paul Hornbut she retorts “only in small doses.’A friend says it could be worse, it couldbe battling harpists but she wouldgladly trade her flutes for harps.I want to…

    Lou Faber

  • SOULMATE

    He had been lonelyfor as long as he could rememberalways wishing for loveor a relationship he could call love.That emotional emptiness hadbecome crushing and he knewhe had tried every possible option:church groups, singles events and bars,and countless dating sites and apps.He read that some like him,had turned to AI to createwhat his life was lacking.He…

    Lou Faber

  • NAME THAT

    It should be daunting, sittingin a waiting area in a gownthat is open in the back, the roomlike most all in such officesmore refrigerator than lounge.She smile and says “It’s your turn,we’ll do one, take another patientand then the other. Is that okay?”A nice question but it isn’t likeI have any real choice.The MRI tube…

    Lou Faber

  • ALBLANY THURSDAY NIGHT

    It is a cheap moteljust off the highway,across from the mallnow almost empty of cars,a room not much biggerthan a bed, a desk anda small nightstand.The diet cola is sweatingdespite the breezeof the air conditioner,the television flickers.I have left a wake up callhoping I arise beforethe jangle of the phone,knowing I will not.Corso lies on…

    Lou Faber

  • COMPASSION

    You cannot discover compassion, itisn’t something you can buy on Amazonor find along the side of a rural road.It cannot be found in books, or giftedby ministers who promise anythingfor a tithe and pledge of your soul.It is something that exists within you,much as curiosity exists within a catalongside its own form of compassionthat nature…

    Lou Faber

  • FOR ME OR THEE

    Do not ask me why I write poetrynor for whom I write poems.You will not be pleased by the answer.You assume I have an audience in mindwhen I pick up the pen and put it to paper.That would be a false assumptionfor only the occasional poet writeswith a specific audience in mind.The rest of us…

    Lou Faber

  • SHURANGAMA’S UNSEEN

    If you believe thatthe dharma is the mapto enlightenment youare truly lost in the swamp.If you believe there isno need for dharma youare wandering a desert.Dharma will not leadyou to enlightenmentbut enlightenment willlay open all of dharmabefore you. A reflection on Case 88 of the Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber