an old writer and his words

  • ROUND ABOUT

    The great minds in Transportation have decidedthat the answer to all traffic problemsis simple, you replace troublesome intersectionswith traffic circles, but you call them roundabouts.They know that the young and wish they werein their muscle cars will avoid them like the plague,for even they cannot defeat centrifugal force,and inertia is one thing they never lack.And…

    Lou Faber

  • THE RUNES

    Here, in these unmown fields where the morning mists gather once stood the ancient chieftain his clan assembled about him staring into the distant trees under the watchful eye of the gods. As the October winds blew down from the hills, they strode forward blades glinting in the midday sun ebbing and flowing until the…

    Lou Faber

  • THE REST OF THE STORY

    It should be the storiesbehind the stories that get told.We have to blame the songwritersI suppose, telling only the partof the story they choose, leaving usto sit and wonder, no answers, forthcoming.We all know what happened to Billie Joeand the damned Talahatchee Bridge, but howdid Becky Thompson snare the brotherand for that matter, why Tupelo?And…

    Lou Faber

  • TUESDAY TRUTH: BROTHER JOHN

    Are you serious? You have the temerity to ask me if I am sleeping? Seriously? If, for a moment, you thought that I was sleeping, why in hell would you jostle me and then ask me if I was sleeping? And how many times do I have to tell you that I never liked the…

    Lou Faber

  • ECHU EXPELS A DISCIPLE 鐵笛倒吹 語十三

    If you come upon Echu napping do not disturb him but retreat to the zendo or walk in the small garden where enlightenment may be found. If the search is successful leave quickly, tell no one, for it is very fragile and the tongue is sharper than the sword and infinitely more deadly. A reflection…

    Lou Faber

  • MITOCHONDRIAL

    I always imagined it would somehowbe romantic, not in the Hollywood sort of way,but in an idyllic, picturesque manner,even if that denied basic reality.Reality, when it comes to origins discoveredis overrated, for the normal percolation timeis denied, and the impact is suddenwith no restraints to temper the blow.Way back when, you learned by storiestold by…

    Lou Faber

  • ON THE BEACH

    It washed up on the beach this morning,stopped right at my feet, as Istared down at it, examining it carefully.It message was clear at first, a taletoo hard to swallow, of creaturestossed about by a storm that no onesaw, from an age in which no onenow alive could have experienced.The message described a magic landof…

    Lou Faber

  • HAIKU

    The small house fly hasno arachnophobiaonly once in life. In the Norway Sprucepine cones threaten to descend.Squirrels sit waiting. In the sunlit parkthe small dog watches the mango fetch the thrown ball Maple leaves emergealmost certain that winteris now history A rain of petalscherry snow covers the groundwe await the fruit.

    Lou Faber

  • SABBATH

    Fourth floor, Antwerp Hilton, night encasing the Schelde, ragout of boar and claret slowly regurgitating, I pause ancient words, stutteringly said, hand on my head a shoddy cover two parts of eight fully remembered one section only in part, turning East or a best guess. I ask nothing, or perhaps too much it is hard…

    Lou Faber

  • THE CLASSICS

    He says he has always hated classical music,and would rather listen to nails dragged across a chalkboard.He has been out of school for many years so Isuspect he no longer realizes what nailson a chalkboard really sounds like, how evenopera, which I can’t tolerate, would be preferable.He rattles off a list of composers he despises,Mozart,…

    Lou Faber