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DEGENERATION
I feel like I ought to beliving in Texas againfor everything, they say,is bigger in Texas, and youdon’t argue with a Texan. So much in my life is bigger now,a computer monitor that wouldpass for a moderate sized TV,with font so large a single pagefills the screen, and the tabletthe size of, but thank Godnot…
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TIME WHEN
There waa a time whennews wasn’t news, carriedby mouth, one personto another a game of telephonebefore that concept existed. Newspapers promised usthe news, but in the timeit took to write and print it,it was nearly news,or at worst slightly olds. Now the world is alwaysavailable instantly, but weknow or should, that halfof the time we…
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THE ANCIENTS
Night and the ancients retreatto a dark corner of their celestial prisonfrom the promised arrivalof the yellow dwarf from whichthey know we demand a presence. We ignore the ancients now,ignore those who cast theminto their prison, ignorethe acts for which they werebanished, care only to name them,and they know that our recognitionis their only grasp…
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UMMON’S MOUNT SUMERU
When you ask your teacherwhat happens when youstop thinking, allowno new thoughtswhat you expect himto tell you? The dead have no thoughtsbut that is not the doorto Nirvana. But if thoughts abandon youwithout your effort, withoutbeing asked to do so,then the door you seekwill open before you. A reflection on Case 19 of the Book…
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POP-UP BUFFET
The cranes walk togetheras a pair, announcingthemselves loudly,strolling across the lawnheaded for the one yardwhere the sod has beentorn out to allow regrading. The equipment has pausedand they take thisas an invitation, stoppingfor a large mealat the new buffet,certain that thiswas done just for themand perhaps a few ibis,should they happen along. Tomorrow this will…
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TRY LOOKING
He loved walking around the small lake. He could make a circuit in just under 40 minutes. If. If he didn’t stop to marvel at or photograph some bird along the shore. The runners flashing by him gave him strange looks, likely because they didn’t see the beauty in this bird’s feathers, how the light…
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ABYSMAL
At the edge of the abyss,teetering on the precipiceyou need not tell us notto jump, need not tell usthe horrid details thatwould befall us if we did,blood and gore ininfinitesimal detail. It is more than enoughthat you point out to usthe sheer height at whichwe stand, the craggedfloor of the canyonawaiting those whoimagine they can…
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A HELL OF A CHOICE
But what if Heaven operateslike a restaurant, closedeach Monday, so you hadbetter die on Sunday, butthat doesn’t work becauseGod is resting and thereis no getting in on the sabbath. That leaves you five daysfrom which to chooseto die, but God also isthe ultimate physician,so Wednesdays the officeis closed, so that dayis out unless you canarrange…
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WRONG AGAIN
As a teenager, like somany others of our narrowminded, obsessed gender,I imagined myself a great lothario,girls on the edge of womanhoodlining up for my attention. The absurdity of that dreamwas lost on me and my peers,testosterone drowning it in a seaof hormones, and we were obliviousto the real obstacle alwaysright in front of us, that…
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DON’T BLAME ME
On the day after I diethere is a real possibilitythat the sun will refuseto rise, an appropriateeffort at mourningwhich would be appreciatedif I were only thereto not see it. So I will just take iton faith, and as for thoseof you who survive meI will apologize in advancefor your day of darkness,although we both knowyou…
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an old writer and his words 