an old writer and his words

  • THE LETTER

    Today I should receive the letterthat I sent to myself twenty years ago,telling me what I should be, where Ishould be, who I should be, for the meof twenty years ago was, by his ownadmission, far smarter than I am, althoughI am here and he is nowhere to be found. If the letter does not…

    Lou Faber

  • GREAT DANGER

    There are those who saythat we are engagedin a culture war, and thatmay be an apt description,even as it misses its mark. It is hardly cultures thatare at war, but those whotake shelter under theirfalse mantle, armoredin labels, shielded by cliches. But the weapons of the warare quite real, knownfor ages, Stalin and Alexiecalling them…

    Lou Faber

  • IT WILL BE EASY

    It will be easy, he says, you justfish a wire down inside the wall,find the hole you cut, put inthe box and wire it up,no big deal at all, easy really. She grimaced immediately,then turned away from him to sigh,for she knew that any time a mandecided something was easy,no big deal, a day or…

    Lou Faber

  • WHEREVER I LAY MY HEAD

    You say that you are uncertainif this place yet feels like home,and look at me silentlyquestioning how I feel. I answer as silently thatyou are here, I am hereso it does feel like homejust as everywhere wouldwhen we are together there. Without speaking you remindme that even I would admita hotel room is not home…

    Lou Faber

  • CINEMATIC MEMORY

    You want to shout that they don’t make movies like they used to, romantic comedies without R ratings for gratuitous sex or language. We both know this is true, but the problem is not that they don’t make those movies, that is the symptom. The problem is that they don’t make audiences like they used…

    Lou Faber

  • LANDING

    She sends us a map showing on which tribe’s land we are now living. This is not something we have thought about, not something we want to think about, for that would demand that we are the usurpers, the horde whose pogrom was ultimately successful, and that is a face that refuse to see in…

    Lou Faber

  • SLIPPING

    It is slipping away. I should be in a panic, but I just cannot see what good that would do. So I’ll be monocular in a binocular world, and always have the excuse that I just didn’t see it, and you can’t argue with that, because  my hearing isn’t nearly what it used to be

    Lou Faber

  • A PAINFUL REMINDER

    I had it good, I had it easy, I would be the first to admit it, to save you the trouble of reminding me, more by way of illustrating how badly you had it. I’ll concede you had it rough,  money always  tight, but you  never were, never would be a Jewboy although you  and…

    Lou Faber

  • SEIGAN’S COST OF RICE

    You may wander endlessly in search of the true dharma. It is not under that rock, not in those bushes, not around the next bend. Look down and ask yourself where are you standing in this moment, then gently lift  your feet off of the heart of the dharma A reflection on case 5 of…

    Lou Faber

  • AN AVIAN MESSAGE

    The birds departed one morning which we believe may be how they express displeasure, although the destruction of the nests and the death of the children by predators may have had something to do with the departure. We wait patiently for their return, the wetland still dry, but we hope with the wet season that…

    Lou Faber