an old writer and his words

  • LUNA WAITS

    Awake in the middle of the nightat an undetermined hour,the analog clock invisiblein the darkened bedroom,I glanced out between the slatsof the window shade and watchthe waning moon play hideand seek with clouds that promiseneeded rain and then decidedwe weren’t worthy of their effort.Mars sat nearby doing nothing,that itself a commentary of sorts.I crawled back…

    Lou Faber

  • PELTIER

    They have youright where they wanted you.They worked hard to ensureit would have you there,ensuring that they tippedthe scales of the blindfolded womanso that their outcomewould be assured, andfor good measure, writingthe fiction they sold as factso why, Leonard, do youimagine after 47 yearsthey will let you breathe freehold your grandchildrenafter all they did to…

    Lou Faber

  • BEARING FRUIT

    Tomorrow it will be timewith the two mangoes in the fruit bowlto make the ultimate sacrifice.Some say they were born to the taskand perhaps so, but the treefrom which they were torn saidit was not yet their time, that shewould have released them in due coursebut our impatience demanded otherwise.I will take my two knives,…

    Lou Faber

  • RECONSTRUCTIONS

    Night descended on herlike an elevator untethered,her memories in freefall into darkness.She could not forget the storiesthe elder ones quietly told,the numbers always clothed over,their smiles forced or freely given,depending on the directionof the ever-present winds of emotion.She knew she was a prisoner of her past,her inheritance both joys and horrorsinterwoven into the fabric of…

    Lou Faber

  • LET LIE

    A friend once told meto write down my dreamsfor they are a window intothe deepest corners of the psyche.Nevermind that much of the timeI cannot begin to remembermy dreams once awake,but those corners were darkfor a reason, and sheddinglight into them will onlycause the creatures who live thereto scurry about and seek shelterin other hidden…

    Lou Faber

  • THIS IS WHAT IT IS

    It happened unexpectedly,but then perhaps it always happensunexpectedly, though in my firstthirty year effort it never fully happenedand its momentary flickerswere no more than quickly fading embers.This time it happened early on,arrived without warning, thentook up residence and broughtwith it a silence where breathsgrew synchronous and words,our stock in trade, were renderedsuperfluous, synapses magically linked.And…

    Lou Faber

  • TOZAN OFFERS TO THE ESSENCE

    When you sitbefore the teacherand ask him to explainthe meaning of the dharmawhat do you expecthe will say to you.If he answers youwhat did you learn?If he remains silentwhat did you learn?Is there any difference? A reflection on Case 49 of The Book of Equanimity (従容錄, Shōyōroku)

    Lou Faber

  • A PASSION

    I don’t know just whatmoment it was when wantingbecame desire, wishingblazed into passion butfor nothing in particular,so if I found it I mightwell not know what I had.None of this was lovemuch was likely delusion,but passion consumes logicand returns only ashes.I am older now, passionhas grown softer aroundit’s edges, but it remainsconsuming like a fine…

    Lou Faber

  • GALLERY?

    I have come to realize that I am,and have been for many years,an abettor of criminal activity.it was always intentionalbut also involuntary,and, I must add, lacking anymens rea whatsoever. In my defense I would assertthat I was defrauded as well,fleeced by someone offeringculture, albeit some of itpurchased, a few clever forgeries,some bought from those whose…

    Lou Faber

  • EYE TO EYE

    So tomorrow he’ll tell meit’s stable and he will smileI think that’s why he wentinto ophthalmology and notoncology, telling patientsthat they have cancer and thensmiling wouldn’t play welland I am willing to bet that hecannot help himself, heis just one of those smilers.And strangely, I will take solacethat my right eye is notappreciably more blindthan…

    Lou Faber