• RED DOT

    I have visited countless galleries,stared at or shielded my eyesfrom all manner of art, butI always read the plaquesaffixed to the walls, nameof artist, of work price,the relative  amount speakingto the financial state of the gallery. I actually care very little aboutthe name of the artist otherthan as a historical reference,for the piece has already…


  • A STONES TOSS

    If you toss a stoneinto a placid pondthe ripples will washaway from the landing spotas so many small waves,and unseen, the areaof the pond’s surfacewill grow imperceptibly. If you toss a stoneinto an vast ocean,the ripples will washaway from the landing spotsmall unnoticed wavesand unseen, the areaof the ocean’s surfacewill grow imperceptibly. Ask  yourself now,whether…


  • DON’T MIND

    Both the great ape and the chimpanzeesay they have been horribly malignedby Buddhist teachers of all people. They point out that they have beenmeditating since the Buddha satbeneath the bodhi tree and was enlightened. They are capable of deep thought,are clearly as sentient as people, they claim with some evidence in support. Why is it, they…


  • SHORT LISTED

    A short list of my college learning: you can drink bad beer when it’s free,you can’t  cram for finals on caffeine alone,you can watch Star Trek episodes for the nth time,you can make spaghetti sauce out of ketchup,Naval ROTC cadets make great radio engineers,even the news director gets free LPs,mescaline is not advised for exam…


  • ENSO

    In the interstitial momentbetween birth and deatha universe comes into existence,something that never before existedand existed always, newand well-known, unseenand visible for eternity. Measure it wellfor it is incapable of measurement,and ends without warningand precisely on schedule.In the momentary breaththat marks the transit,we proceed nowhereand cannot return to where we began. Reprised from March 27,…


  • RUSHING IN

    Step right up, don’t hang back,come and watch the fool perform for you.You know me, bedecked in motley emotionsworn like so many colorful rags,a suit of too many shades and hues,all displayed for your entertainment.See if you can find ten shades of angeras I prance around in front of you.Count the five flavors of tearsthat…


  • WITH A TWIST

    First, Peter Piper could not have picked a peck of pickled peppers. You don’t pick pickled peppers, you purchase them. And if he meant he picked a peck of peppers to pickle, then he should have said so. And he should have specified what sort of peppers he picked to pickle. Anaheim would be good,…


  • A HAUNTING

    He said he would ghost mebut I know you don’t tell someoneand in any event, even thoughI do not very much like himI do not wish him dead,and he wouldn’t makea very good ghost anyway,since he barges and not sneaks. He said he would unfriend me,but since we were never friendsto begin with, how can…


  • AT ONE

    You need not apologize, for wedo not expect it, and wouldnot accept it as freely given. It is not that you have notdone so much it warrants,for that list is long and repletewith all manner of sins. It is simply that we are notin a mood to accept an apology,denied so long, for hollow wordshave…


  • AUDITIONS DAILY

    It should be easy, my friend said,to imagine yourself a characterin a novel you particularly like,like I’ve found myself in any numberof Tom Clancy novels, since I caneasily become a CIA agent, it fits me. I know I’d shoot myself in the footor worse, and I’d keep no secretsif you even threatened to torture me,and…