an old writer and his words

  • INSIDE, UNSEEING

    I’ve been trying to discover howit is that those inside the beltwayelected to office, or workingfor those who were elected,have all sense of irony (andin some cases. civility) erased. How else to explain that for manythere can be no climate changewhile the nation they serveis bearing its cost, climatologicallyand in discourse and diversity,and still they…

    Lou Faber

  • APPROACHING

    The perfect time of dayoccurs only as the deadof night approaches, thatmoment when the heartof the city falls almost silent. In smaller cities this momentis protracted, arising as the moonreaches toward full expressionand such as pass for tallbuildings settle into sleep. In the great cities, thosethat claim never to sleep,the city reverberates, echoingoff the endless…

    Lou Faber

  • ARE YOU CRAZY?

    The birds look at us as though we had two heads. They cannot, they say, comprehend how we can stand to live in boxes, to travel in metal containers, to be stuck forever to the ground. They say that food should be picked then eaten instantly, not packaged and half thrown away. They say they…

    Lou Faber

  • MINDFUL(L)

    The Buddha said that any task you doif done mindfully is a sort of meditation.We assume he said it, we’ve been toldhe did, but no one I know was anywherenear that bodhi tree, so we take it on faith.When it comes to things like choppinglarge quantities of onions, or roastingcoffee beans I totally get it,…

    Lou Faber

  • JOSHU PLANS A VISIT 鐵笛倒吹 十九

    If Joshu asks youwhich is the true eyewill you climb to the topof the mountainin search for it?There are a thousand mountainswhere Manjushri may dwellstaring out at the world—how will you know which one?A cloud mayreflect your sightsimplifying all. A reflection on case 19 of the Iron Flute Koans

    Lou Faber

  • WIEN

    We were walking around Vienna, Wien,the river cruise boat arriving early, dropped off into the city center, toldwe had precisely two hours to wander,or we’d make our own way back,and risk missing lunch and the formal tour. We wandered, following instructions,looking in vain for a café where wecould get an Austrian cappuccino, and perhapsa pastry…

    Lou Faber

  • BARDLESS

    Laertes was supposed to visit mein my dreams last night,but Iago texted that they bothwere suddenly otherwise engaged. There is a strong possibility, of coursethat this was just another instanceof Marlowe trying to wreak havocwith my ever more precious sleep. Tomorrow I will recall none of thisfor the day ereases my dreamsmuch as the sun…

    Lou Faber

  • PANDEMIC DREAMS

    What I most want to do now,locked in by something unseen,is to wander the streets of citieshere, Europe, it hardly matters,and find statues whose plaquesare worn away or gone missing,now nameless souls of oncelesser fame meriting a bronzeor of such ego as donatingtheir own image to the town. They are forgotten souls, oftenrightfully so no…

    Lou Faber

  • OLD SCHOOL

    How much better off would we beif every poet and wanna be werecompelled to write using only paperand a quill pen dipped regularlyinto a small glass inkwell? You must wonder if we would seemore elegance, villanelles, sonnets,and the other forms now lying jumbledin the great literary waste bin. What would we discover if leftto our…

    Lou Faber

  • NATURAL LOGIC

    Nature has a way of applyinga perfect logic that eludesits most complex creatures,we claiming to be first among them. Nature grants the houseflya quite short life, but allows itto see a thousand images at once,a lifetime of vision in mere days. The tortoise is consigned to crawlalong at a laggard’s pace, outrunby other animals, who…

    Lou Faber