• WEAVING

    A length of threadcolorful to be surealone, easilyignored, sweptaside. Woveninto a tapestrypart of a picturetreasuredfor beauty, ordepicting horrorbut remembered. Countless threadscolorfulalonetogethertelling taleslockedin memory. First Published in New Feathers Anthology Spring 2021http://www.newfeathersanthology.com/new-feathers21.htm


  • TIMING

    I spend my daylooking at clocks, timealways present but neverknowing if they tellthe right time and whatdifference it would makeif it were right or wrong.Ostensibly time isn’t relativebut I cannot determine to whatit isn’t relative, so I just go alongwondering what time is.


  • DECISION TIME

    Checking the calendar, I seethat today I must makea profound decision that willaffect my life for years to come. I am certain it will not bea simple decision, importantdecisions seldom are, and thisoffers multiple but no easy choices. I have long taken the facile wayaround the issue, a straightforward“same as everyone else does”approach that has…


  • COGITO COGITO ERGO SUM

    The cathas an issue with metoday, but sherefuses to discuss it. She says that itwould be fruitlessfor I would applywhat I call logicand cats knowthere is no such thing,there is only obedienceto their will. I would be gladto argue with her,knowing I would loseby any objective,that is to say her,standards, but shewould rather see megrow…


  • DUST AND ASHES

    Between Scylla and Charybdisthey cower amidst the ruinsfearful to look skywardlest they encouragethe rains of hell. Now and then they visitthe corpses, hastily buriedgrief drowned by the soundof the laugh of the gunnerpeering down from the hills.It is always night for the souland lookout must be keptfor Charon, who ridessilently along the rivers of blood,that…


  • ADAM SMITH BE DAMNED

    It is odd to discoverthat time obeys the economiclaws of supply and demandbut as I have aged, thathas become ever more clearas my supply has dwindled,my demand remains constantand the value increases accordingly. That may explain why, now,I am content to check the scoresand read the stats of my favoritefootball or baseball team, getting every…


  • AGING

    We live in the cell phone ageand there are hidden advantagesthat the young, exchanginglast year’s model for this,will never fully understanduntil they, too, are much older. With the push of a button,held in for five seconds,the phone will go off at night,and since no one any longerhas a landline, you are assuredthat no one will…


  • SITTING

    It is onlyin the deep stillnessand silenceof zazenthat the wordsof the Dharmaresound loudest From the cushionsamadhi ariseslike a Phoenixtakes wingand with the final bellall to oftenflies off mindlesslyand it’s goneuntil the next sitting.


  • POWER

    In my dreams, I haveinfinte power and a hintof omniscience one minuteand am impotent, deafand dumb the next,and there is no predictingwhich moment willbe which or whena shift will suddenly happen. I generally stay outof trouble, and when disasterlooms, and I am powerless,I can awaken, resetthe projector and try again,although I do havea nagging fear…