an old writer and his words

  • A DAY

    a day,clouds drop rainreplacing tearslocked insidestones and clothred and blueunseparatedstill worlds apartorderly ranksall at attentionand silencethundering angera mad worldsoaked in peaceonly untilmidnight. Publsihed in New Feathers Anthology (Summer 2020)http://www.newfeathersanthology.com/a-day.html

    Lou Faber

  • THINGS TO COME

    One morning last week I decidedto plant myself at a busy intersectionand begin reading poetry, mostlymy own, I have to admit. I was generally ignored, my usualstate, and that sadly of most poets,when a scruffy, bearded young manset up easel and paint next to me. The morning seemed to relishthe stillness of this urban way…

    Lou Faber

  • A CITY LIKE ALMOST ANY OTHER

    somewhere within three blocksof here a limo is disgorgingor swallowing up passengers a child is dreaming of takinglessons on a piano or violinof Carnegie or Alice Tully Halls a woman is rememberingwhat the touch of his fingersfelt on her cheek, tracing her jaw, not shattering it,a tagger prepares for battlecarefully loading his makeshift holster after…

    Lou Faber

  • WHAT’S IN A NAME?

    He only wants to knowmy spiritual name, “your falseworld name is of no matter.” I tell him I have only one name,the one my parents gave me,and it has worked to this point quite well, and no one has eversuggested I might need another,although my Jewish friends have two. “No,” he says, “your spiritual nameisn’t…

    Lou Faber

  • GENTO’S WATER PAIL 鐵笛倒吹 二十語

    In the gardenwhat do you seein the old bucket,is it still waterreflecting the moon?Is it a cloudresting in its travels? Turn the bucket overwhat do you see within?Does the Bodhireside there? A reflection on case 25 of the Iron Flute Koans

    Lou Faber

  • FORMAL PROOF

    First Proposition: You were put upfor adoption because your birthparents couldn’t or didn’t want to raise you. Second Proposition: We or I adopted youbecause I wanted you and not anotherand to give you the good life you deserved. Argument: Given all of the possiblealternatives, you ought to be thankfulthat we saved you from that other…

    Lou Faber

  • ANSWER SWIFTLY

    The question you will be called uponto answer requires careful thought,but you will be forced to respond. Would you rather live the restof your life in Lilliput or Brobdingnab? It may seem rather silly, for neitheris likely to occur, but that is not the pointand you cannot avoid responding. Of course you will have to…

    Lou Faber

  • SPACED OUT

    The question you must answer,and the one question I am certainyou cannot answer correctly is this: Does space define usor do we define space? Hints, of course, abound but we,myself included, fail or choosenot to see them or outright deny them. We are all comfortable at home,the adventurous among us declarethat wherever they are is…

    Lou Faber

  • NATURE REMINDS

    Last night, all the romanticcomedies worth watchingon Amazon and Netflix havingalready been seen, many twice we had no choice but to optfor a coming of age tale on Netflixaccompanied by the mellifluoustones of Sir David Attenborough. In my dreams last night there wasa debate between the Gentooand Emperor Penguins as to whichwas the more enrapturing,…

    Lou Faber

  • POOR JACK

    He does not want to hear it,but someone needs to tell Jackjust how foolish this makes him look. It shouldn’t require a degreein hydrogeology or philosophical logicto realize that water, like all matter obeys the basic laws of physics,the concept of gravity being a principalthat says you don’t climb to find water. Some, quite unfairly…

    Lou Faber