an old writer and his words

  • HOMEGROWN

    He only wanted to know if there wereplaces I had always wantedto visit but never gone, and didI still plan on going there.I could have asked “why that question”but he was someone who never traveled,was born, bred and would likely diein this city, content that it hadeverything of value that the worldcould possibly offer such…

    Lou Faber

  • THE ALCHEMISTS HAND

    He said that we are an amalgamof nature and nurture, and oftenthere is no real distinction between them.If only that were my case,I am bifurcated between whatI know what I imagine,lived and what I might have,what was imposedon me by otherssome of which others left me Ifor those they call their own.Blood may or may…

    Lou Faber

  • A MOMENT

    A night of broken dreams,a day of trembling handsminutes of knocking kneeswearing a path into an alreadyaging and worn wooden deck.A moment of sight,a moment when time stoppedand words failed, paralyzedby fear, by beauty, by a smile.A meal prattling on, tryingto see signs, not knowing whatthose signs might be.Twenty-three years of a joyI hadn’t known…

    Lou Faber

  • YES MISTRESS

    When you are owned by a catyou must be constantly wary,for every kindness hides behind ita claw poised as a reminder. Cats realize we are uniquely difficultto train, that we can be finicky,slow to respond to their demands,and they will forgive that, but only to a point. There is much they would teach usabout the…

    Lou Faber

  • AROUNDING

    He had no idea why hehad chosen this place, hadno memory of how he had gotten here.The night sky poured forthits endless cascade of stars,bathed him in the waves of the cosmos.He reached up as if to touch heaven,knowing he was an insignificant beingon an inconsequential bit of rock and magma.that the gods had long…

    Lou Faber

  • AND TONIGHT

    This should be Paris, he thought,dancing alone in the Tuileries, orEngland, looking down on the Thamesperched atop the London Eye.This was how he imagined it, nottrapped in the madding crowd, everyonefrantically multitasking, searchingfor nirvana or a release from boredom,from the quest for monetary meaningthat had trapped them in a maze withno exit or end point,…

    Lou Faber

  • PAST DUE

    It seems we have an endlesscapacity for imagining peace,exceeded only by our capacityfor greed and selfishness.We announce our beliefsin equality, equity, diversityand abide them so longas they don’t impede ourdesires, wants, wishes.We offer alms to the poorsolace to the weak, prayersfor the needy so long as theyremain anywhere we do nothave to see or interact…

    Lou Faber

  • ZHAOZHOU ROTATES THE CANNON

    If you ask a masterhow to become a Buddhahe will say, simply,that you are one,but, he will add,if you knowthat you areyou will nevertruly be a Buddha. A reflection on case 74 of the Shobogenzo, Dogen’s True Dharma Eye 正法眼蔵

    Lou Faber

  • TOMORROW

    He always thought he did some of his best work when he was operating under an impending deadline. He had honed that skill over many years, professionally when deadlines moved and were reset constantly, and personally. He called it brinkmanship, but he knew others no doubt saw it as a potent cocktail of bravado and…

    Lou Faber

  • VISITORS

    As much as he needed sleephe had grown to dread itfor each night they visited him,always whispering, he strainingto hear if they had wisdom to offeror were simply there to mock,to plague him, as recompense for someimagined sin, some innocent mistakeor simply because eternity canfairly quickly become boring.He knows their number willonly grow over time…

    Lou Faber