an old writer and his words

  • NOT HAPPENING

    NOTE: My new book is here at last. My latest collection of poetry and short stories has just been published by Plain View Press. Since you have been following and reading my work if you would like more information about Free of the Shadow, just click here for a special offer. Try as we do…

    Lou Faber

  • DOMICILE (Corrected Version)

    NOTE: My new book is here at last. My latest collection of poetry and short stories has just been published by Plain View Press. Since you have been following and reading my work if you would like more information about Free of the Shadow, just click here for a special offer. I read my poemto…

    Lou Faber

  • THE ECHO

    NOTE: My new book is here at last. My latest collection of poetry and short stories has just been published by Plain View Press. Since you have been following and reading my work if you would like more information about Free of the Shadow, just click here for a special offer. The echo of lovemay…

    Lou Faber

  • BUDDHA HOLDS OUT A FLOWER 無門關 六

    Shakyamuniholds up a fadinglotus flowerand we sit silently awaiting, not knowingpatient, afraid to smileto move, to shift posturemudra one smiles,dharma is transmitted,the kenshoof yellowed teeth. A reflection on Case 5 of the Mumonkan 無門関 (The Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber

  • HARBINGER

    I am slowly going blind.I may, with luck, never get thereif saying that has not already jinxed me.Going blind as you ageis rather fitting in a strange wayfor as the memory slips and peoplefade from its cornersand alcoves, when I can nolonger see them they are also gone.So if, one day, I see youand do…

    Lou Faber

  • MS WORD THESAURUS

    birthbeginningopeningbreachalienationestrangementenmitymalicemalevolencehatredrepugnancehostilityconflictbattlecombatassaultonslaughtaggressionbrutalitysavagenessatrocitycrimeassaultstrikebeatvanquishcrushannihilatedestroymurderhomicidedeath First published in The Candid Review, Issue 3, 2024https://thecandidreview.org/ms-word-thesaurus/

    Lou Faber

  • SAY WHAT?

    There is a Buddhist expression that you cannotstep into the same river twice, which makesa certain amount of sense since the river changesfrom moment to moment, and the river youfirst step in is gone even before you step out.But you can step into the same accent repeatedlyif you tune your ear and listen carefully.Those who…

    Lou Faber

  • MAN UP A TREE 無門關 語

    One armed monkclings precariouslyto the sagging limbover the abyss. Kyogen smiles, “Old manyou are starvingand soonwill be too weakto grasp that branch.” He places an appleon the branchfor the old man. “Your sufferingis completed.” A reflection on Case 5 of the Mumonkan 無門関 (The Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber

  • I WANT

    I want my poem to scream out so loudthat you will hear it even if you are notpaying attention or are busy with other thingsyou think are more important than poetry. Too often my poems just lie on the paper,or are dead pixels on a screen, whisperingwhat I wanted shouted, but I am so oftena…

    Lou Faber

  • DUALITIES

    There is the knowing and the not knowing,there is the seeing and the not seeing,the hearing and the silence, but therecannot be the being and the not, regardlessof what Hamlet may suggest as a question.Even Yorick realized this, perhaps too late.No one listened to Horatio on the parapettoo busy in their own soliloquies to hear.But…

    Lou Faber