an old writer and his words

  • THE QUESTION

    Even long after he had lefthis childhood behind, or suchof it as he had actually had,he could still stare up intothe night sky, at ceiling of starswith more than a little awe. And even though he had leftchildhood behind, no onehad yet answered the onequestion his parents duckedtime and time again, oneso simple a child…

    Lou Faber

  • ADMISSION

    We do not like to admitthat nature laughs at usas we pretend to bend herto our will and desires. We dam and reroute rivers,but the river knows wellthat it will return, flowwhere it wishes, for itwill be here long afterwe have returned to the soil. Still, now and again naturegrows weary with our meddlingand unleashes…

    Lou Faber

  • EFFECT

    The morning was indistinguishable from so many others. Lorenz was taking his morning walk around the pond or lake, it was of that intermediate size that could be either or neither, when in a break with his habit, he sat down on one of the four benches, and stared out over the water. He hadn’t…

    Lou Faber

  • AFTERLIFE

    In the farthest reachesof the afterlife, the old mengather each day, althoughday and night are meaninglessto them, just assignedfor purposes of the writer. The Buddha recites sutrashoping the others willbe in the moment with him,while Hillel smiles, standson one foot and dreamsof a lean pastrami on ryewith a slice of half sour. Christ muses on…

    Lou Faber

  • NAMELESS ONE

    It is truly unfair, sucks really,that proximity has cast meas nameless, yet I am forcedto wear all manner of termsthat fit their mood at anygiven moment, and even thenthey can’t seem to agree. You can say it is petty, but Iam jealous of Titan, and helleven Phobos and Deimoshave proper names, and theyare a misshapen,…

    Lou Faber

  • OCULUS

    There is little goodyou want to say aboutMacular Degeneration, lessabout geographical atrophy,nothing it seems you can dountil it crosses that lineand wetness sets in. But there is one hiddenadvantage and thatis the magical powerto make people headlessand cars disappearon the highway. All I need do is shutmy left eye and if I amten feet or…

    Lou Faber

  • SHOWERS

    We sat on our lanai last nightin our twin rockers, the catcurled close by but carefullyremoved from the rockersand stared into the sky hopingmeteors would grace uswith their fleeting presence. The moon did appear, shroudedin thin clouds, spectral ghostwaxing slowly in hiding, butthe stars had fled this night,fearing the rain thatthe cloud mantle promised. We…

    Lou Faber

  • YIN YANG

    The real questionin the final analysisis not whetherNew Age musiciansinvented acupunctureand massage althoughthere is an inextricablelinkage between them. The real question iswhy two healingAsian modalitieschoose that formof aural torture whilethe patient/victimmust lie still and acceptthe pain inflictedas the pleasureis slowly delivered.

    Lou Faber

  • SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY

    1. And itshould come asno great surpriseIsaac Newton said,“I find I nowprefer to sit beneathpear trees.” 2. In his smallLeningrad apartmentIvan Petrovich Pavlovcursed ,”damn dogs,you bite meevery timesomeone ringsthe doorbell.” 3. Schrodinger shoutedat the PETA protesters“I’ve told youagain and againthe catis also alive,just don’t look.” First published in Defenestration, Volumee XVIII, Issue III, December 2021

    Lou Faber

  • LUNAR LUNCH

    Even as a child I wasreasonably certain thatthe moon wasn’t madeof green cheese as someof my friends said, becauseeven if it was cheese, Iwas sure it would be eitherRoquefort or Gorgonzola. No one had beento the moon back then,nothing had marred its surface,so we took the scientistson faith that it wassomething other than cheese. Now…

    Lou Faber