an old writer and his words

  • SERIOUSLY AMAZON?

    I am struggling to understandjust who is the target marketwith a thirty piece atof rubber ducks for the baththat Amazon wants to sell me.I did have a rubber duckyfor the bath when I was a childbut he was singular, and whenhe partially cracked and drownedI buried him in the backyardand vowed never to ownwaterfowl again,…

    Lou Faber

  • EDITOR

    The problem with having someoneedit your writing, particularlyif you are a poet, is thatthe moment they go beyond simplepunctuation or obvious grammarthey are writing their own poemand to some lesser or greater extentthe poem you gave them no longer exists.There may be something to be saidfor allowing that, for when theyreturn their poem and you…

    Lou Faber

  • NIGHT VISITOR

    Across Bedford Avenuein the fourth floor windowthe antique bird printis bathed in the lightof a Chinese ginger jar lamp.Her shadow dancesacross the wall, armswrapped tightly around herselfin the sway of Terpsichoresinging her melancholy song.I hear onlythe cacophony of the drunkon the cornerbraying to the moonand the rumbleof the lorryon Tottenham Court Road. First Published in…

    Lou Faber

  • LOOKING GLASS

    There are several problems withAlice and her adventures, andwhile how she found a rabbit holelarge enough to go downit is certainly one of them,but the larger question,the unstated question, is howa second person made the tripand where that person was from.It seems that he/she was presentbefore the rabbit appearedfor he/she knew precisely what our Alicewas…

    Lou Faber

  • THE ULTIMATE PATH IS WITHOUT DIFFICULTY

    How long have youwandered about searchingfor the correct path?Clearly you have notfound it but you refuseto give up the searchcertain it is there.Will you recognize itif you stumble across it?How do you decidewhere you should look?Look down, you arestanding on it as you havebeen since you began. A reflection on Case 2 of the Blue…

    Lou Faber

  • HOME AGAIN

    You can go home againdespite what the author saidbut home won’t be home anymoreso perhaps the author was right.It used to be a little used beltwaystrangling the already smalldowntown, a sunken dream ofsome city planner with myopia.Now they have filled that inand lined it with apartments;here an array of identical, stacked boxes,the blocks of an…

    Lou Faber

  • UPWARD

    The young child stares up into the skyand sees in the infinite spacecountless worlds take form and then die. On the mesa coyotes cryseeing gods in what men defacethe young child stares up into the sky hears his ancestors’ mournful replyin an atom’s interstitial spacecountless worlds take form and then die. Inside he sees his…

    Lou Faber

  • THE HIGHEST MEANING OF THE HOLY TRUTHS

    On the path youmay choose to askyour teacher to give youthe heart of the dharma.Accept his silenceand carry it with youfor it is the seedfrom which the great lotuswill arise.Peer within itand see nothing at alland cherish the giftof the heart of the Buddha. A reflection on Case 1 of the Blue Cliff Record (Hekiganroku…

    Lou Faber

  • GOOD LUCK WITH THAT

    The fortune cookies of my childhoodwere far more interesting, or somy memory would have it.The cookies offered wisdomof the East, or so it seemedto a 10-year-old, but perhapsit was the same mumbo-jumboin the bulk print today, nowthat the cookies, which oncetasted good, unlike today’sorigami cardboard, werefolded by hand, and therewere no lotteries then, sothere was…

    Lou Faber

  • ROCK ON SLOWLY

    In yet another sign of ageI realize I simply cannotenjoy much of today’s music.I know it has merit, I knowmost love it, sales and downloadsdon’t lie, but it doesn’t work for me.I want the music of the 80s, the 70s,or even the late 60s, but with,dare I say it, a bit of a twist.I want…

    Lou Faber