an old writer and his words

  • IMPRESSIONS

    I have no reason to venture to Tahiti for Gaugin took me there years ago, and again on a visit to Chicago and one to New York, or was it Cleveland, it hardly matters, for I know that the Tahiti of my experience no longer exists, touristed to death, itself at constant risk of drowning.…

    Lou Faber

  • Two Monks Roll Up Blinds 無門關 二十六

    Both are asked to bring more light into the hall. Together each rolls up his shade. One’s action is gain one’s action is loss there is only one shade there is only one light. A reflection on case 26 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate)

    Lou Faber

  • The question of the day is would you rather be a turtle or a snail, not to be sung to any melody by Paul Simon. Think carefully, for one day the question will have real impact and you will get your answer with a permanence that merits the most careful consideration. Today may or may…

    Lou Faber

  • SUMMER SONGS

    the dangling green orbs hang beneath the verdant leaves dreaming of summer. sweat rolls down my back the noon sun stares angrily forgotten winter evening sky darkens is it the approach of night or simple summer rain?

    Lou Faber

  • 33,000

    As 33,000 feet, you want the smoothness that experience tells you, the sky will once again deny. Strapped in, you contemplate cursing the gods of travel, but no, they are simply meeting your expectations. Getting this close to heaven was once, she says, a mystical and spiritual experience, but then we transcended all of that…

    Lou Faber

  • METASTASIS

    She could barely move her head the cancer climbed her spine reaching upward, clutching vertebrae reaching out, tendrils grasping tearing fragile organs. She would cry, but that would be an admission of defeat, a welcome to death. I cried out for her, entreated our God for compassion that she might stand by her sons when…

    Lou Faber

  • SEE COWS

    The manatees hide just below the surface sticking up their heads every few minutes, for a breath or to thrill the tourists who watch intently, because it is a thing to do in this part of Florida in winter. The restaurants in the harbor don’t mind, it draws a crowd and takes pressure off the…

    Lou Faber

  • BUDDHA NATURE

    A singe egret sits calmly on the lowest branch of a long barren tree, where hours from now a thousand birds will arrive for still another evening and night. He stares at me as I am mindfully vacuuming, watching carefully. I pause and ask if by chance he is a Buddha and he lifts his…

    Lou Faber

  • Joshu Sees the Hermits 無門關 十一

    Joshu’s single question asked twice the same two answers, two raised fists each time the same Joshu responds to each fist each response different each the same a single light both seen and unseen both blessed curse and cursed blessing. A reflection on Case 11 of the Mumonkan (Gateless Gate)

    Lou Faber

  • APART-IAL EXPLANATION

    It is all to often debated what sets humans apart the other species, and that will not be agreed any time soon (which a cynic would note is one such thing itself). Freud would claim it is only our ego, our sense of self, which may explain why people are so capable of being self-…

    Lou Faber