an old writer and his words

  • THREE TOKYO SCENES

    Scene I Just off Shinjukuchuokoen North, nestled in the courtyard of the Green Tower, hides Jyoufuji Temple, serene in the first light of morning, the sun dancing off the ceremonial bell its striker poised, as if waiting to catch the wind and to it sing its resonant song. Inside, the prayer mats await the first…

    Lou Faber

  • NIGHT PASSING, MORNING REINCARNATE

    The Buddha died peacefully in his sleep last night in the Emergency Room of Cook County Hospital, his passing was noted by a surgical resident passing by the partially drawn curtain en route to the Doctor’s Lounge after two hours of meatball surgery on a young man with multiple gunshot wounds who bled out anyway…

    Lou Faber

  • CENSORS

    They stole his words, carefully sidling up to him when he was distracted, and plucking one left hanging from a pocket or in his room at night slid one from the dresser. He never saw them and never suspected. They toyed with him, for a while taking only verbs, leaving him transfixed and cursing his…

    Lou Faber

  • THE SEA

    Sitting on the shore, I asked the sea to tell me of life.  The sea said the sky             was a hungry suitor             always trying to devour her.  The sea said doves             no longer lived             atop the mountains.  The sea said men             embraced wars             because they feared love.  The sea…

    Lou Faber

  • TAOS EVENING

    On the mesa between El Prado and Tres Piedras after the sun has been swallowed by  the mountains, to the east a fire burns. Countless stars stare down on the shivering sage. The scorpion lunges for the distant hill. The fire grows behind the mountain, the orange disk rises slowly. The smallest stars flee Luna’s…

    Lou Faber

  • 42

    Before there was a big bang there was what.  Before there was life there was who.  Before there was space there was where.   Before there was time there was when. Before there was there was why.  

    Lou Faber

  • THIS POEM

    will not marvel at the dawn will not stare at the ebb and flow of the sea will not see ghosts in the clouds over Dachau  will sit on the page staring back will remember the torn wallpaper will cry out, always unanswered  will not trace your spine, lingering on each vertebra will not make…

    Lou Faber

  • CHAPERONE

    There are three ducks on the pond, two female, one male, and none says anything that is remotely profound. Half a world away, a man carefully parks a truck at the edge of a crowded Baghdad market and walks quickly away. Three ducks swim side by side by side around the pond, every now and…

    Lou Faber

  • THE BUDDHIST TEMPLE AT NARA

    On the steps of the Temple the unexpected morning snow which cast a threadbare blanket over the gates and lanterns recedes slowly like a supplicant whose prayers have been offered. The candle flames shiver in the strong February wind while the Buddha sits, implacable. In the park below a dragon kite takes the wind and…

    Lou Faber

  • CONVERSATION WITH THE GODS

    This could be one of those days when you think you might want to finally climb Olympus and have that discussion with the gods. They’ve been up there forever and it isn’t clear they serve any Purpose other than taking up space and betting on when Sisyphus will get the rock to the top of…

    Lou Faber