an old writer and his words

  • THAT MOMENT

    I remember the first moment whenthe ophthalmologist told me my maculardegeneration in one eye had gonefrom dry to wet. I probably felt momentary fear.I had read enough to know that when one eyegoes, there is a fair likelihood the otherwill eventually follow, and wet AMDgenerally results in blindness.I have lost central vision in that eyebut…

    Lou Faber

  • THE BEARDLESS BARBARIAN 無門關 四

    A young childhas no beard. In one dreamyou are beardedand awake clean shaven. In one dreamyou are clean shavenand awake rubbing your long beard. When you meet your dreamsand when your dreams meet,which is real, Wakuan asks. A reflection on Case 4 of the Mumonkan 無門関 (The Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber

  • SOME SAY

    Some say that we live our livesin ordinary time, fraught in a worldbeyond our comprehension, beyondour control, and not the ordinary timeof the church, which is now anything but ordinary as we must live it.People talk of the new normal as iffurious that abnormality can be normalizedby labeling it as such, rather than actingto return…

    Lou Faber

  • QUANTUM

    The universe is bothenormously vastmeasurable only in metaphorand so infinitesimally small,an ideathat would fitin the cornerof a grain of sand.As you walk the beachgrasp universesbetween your toesand kick theminto the tideof the cosmos. First appeared in Litmora Literary Magazine, Issue 5 – Beyond the Cosmoshttps://www.litmoralitmag.com/faber-two-pieces

    Lou Faber

  • GUTEI RAISES A FINGER 無門關 三

    One finger,a moment Guteione finger, that wayone finger, unity what have you learnedone finger,cut off,a moment in all directions no direction but stilla unity. A reflection on Case 3 of the Mumonkan 無門関 (The Gateless Gate Koans)

    Lou Faber

  • AND THEN

    My Buddhism teaches me that Ishould be in this moment,present in an infinitesimally smallbit of time, always here, never staying.This morning my back had an issuewith me, and made its displeasure known.Pain fills moments, elongates themand time ever moving appears to slow,to grind along, almost to a halt.Would that pleasure might do the samebut it…

    Lou Faber

  • MURDER

    It is one thing to murder your little darlings, as writers like to say, but as a poet it is wholly another thing to murder your children, those you have raised from birth on the page, tended with care hoping they might one day leave home and find their place in the world. How do…

    Lou Faber

  • BECAUSE

    The older man walks slowly downthe beach, each foot carefully placedto find a purchase the waves would take away.He shields his eyes from the sun, ignoresthe myriad shells the ocean offers up,does not bother to hear the song of the wavesthat soon will erase all evidenceof his presence here today.He walks along this beach becauseothers…

    Lou Faber

  • SCHWARZCHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSE

    In the spaceof a momenta universecan be engulfedlight pours forthfrom a black holesuns riseover the event horizonspace curves inon itselfuntil it is yesterdaySchrodinger’s catfeasts on Albert’s twinsthe diceare just out of reach. First appeared in Litmora Literary Magazine, Issue 5 – Beyond the Cosmoshttps://www.litmoralitmag.com/faber-two-pieces

    Lou Faber

  • INCOGNITO

    Cities allow an anonymitythat few who have itclaim to want,and those who cannotfind it only wishto briefly have it.Cities have mastered juxtaposition,offering what is unwanted,taking that which is.But we choose to livein cities, visit them,for they are our sirensand we are simple sailorsalways looking for home.

    Lou Faber