an old writer and his words

  • WAITING IMPATIENTLY

    Waiting rooms are usually somber.That is true of most hospitalsand every mortuary. It isn’t like we needto be prepared for whatmight happen next. In the hospital the surgeon,at the direction of lawyers,has given us the worst case. In the mortuary we are certainthe departed was no saintso resurrection is out of the picture. I’m not…

    Lou Faber

  • THE LADDER

    We have anointed ourselvesthe highest of species, ableto assert our dominion over allwhich might be fortunate enoughto fall within our protection. Some say we have eliminatedspecies, but they fail to recognizethat it was simply survivalof the fittest, that Darwinianrules must govern nature’s game. We mourn those gone, but neverpause to consider that basedon the game’s…

    Lou Faber

  • Bodhidharma’s Mind 無門關 四十一

    Walk slowly up to Bodhidharmabut do not pull him awayfrom the wall before which he sits.Keep your arms close about youlest you cannot graspwhat he will ask. Hold tight to your mndfor it will grow still onlyas it slips through your fingersWhen you see it fade awaySamadhi bathes you. A reflection on Case 41 of…

    Lou Faber

  • ALLIGATOR TEARS

    Despite my admittedly limted effortsI still fail to understand whypeople here have fallen so in lovewith plastic shoes, and more so,why they are called Crocsand feature a crocodile on the package. I know one species of crocdoes inhabit this country, but almostexclusively in South Florida,where alligators are far more prevalent. And in any event, if…

    Lou Faber

  • LUNAR LUNCH

    Even as a child I wasreasonably certain thatthe moon wasn’t madeof green cheese as someof my friends said, becauseeven if it was cheese, Iwas sure it would be eitherRoquefort or Gorgonzola. No one had beento the moon back then,nothing had marred its surface,so we took the scientistson faith that it wassomething other than cheese. Now…

    Lou Faber

  • DARE I SAY

    Few will dare say it, but Ihave always imagined myselfamong the few at most thingsso I suppose it falls to me. The lifecycle of the poetincises an arc and there arerecognizable nodes along its pathfrom beginning to end. The first poem published in ajournal, no matter how small,then one in a publication othershave heard of,…

    Lou Faber

  • SOCKING MEMORY

    It appears unexpectedlylike a sock from behind the dryerlong after its matehas been discarded or converted to rag.You have looked for itever since it went missingand knowing the way of socksand their hiding placesthe dryer was one of the firstplaces you looked for it.Memories are much like socksnow and again running offand hiding, leaving half…

    Lou Faber

  • WHEN WE STOPPED

    It was probably that momentjust after we sat downat our new, huge or sothey seemed, desksand the large personin the front of the roomsmiled at us and said“I will teach you allthat you need to learnthis year so pay attention.” Perhaps we stoppedthinking the year beforeduring kindergarten,but I do think the firstday of first gradetruly…

    Lou Faber

  • A QUESTION OF TIMING

    Umberto Eco, I believe,intending to or not,has found the perfect wayto bring classic playsback to life, to enable usto reinterpret theseold works, to hold theirreincarnated selves dear. All you need do is decidewhether you are onewho prefers beginningsor finds ends more satisfying. Go see Hamlet, but missthe first act or so, and museon why he…

    Lou Faber

  • JOSHU’S CYPRUS TREE

    A young childdoes not ask for meaning,all things areas they areuntil they are not.The foolishness of agecauses men to starein search of meaningthey will never find.It is the blind manwho will find the diamond. A reflection on case 119 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo (True Dharma Eye) Koans

    Lou Faber