an old writer and his words

  • BALANCING ACT

    Push came to shove the other day. At least that was my position, although some said it was more propelled, or at best a nominal thrust. When my face hit the dirt I was convinced it was a shove, if not a ramming or bulldozing. And I’m sure the other guy wonders if it was…

    Lou Faber

  • LATTE

    At the coffee shop they chatter as if in some foreign tongue, conversations overlaid one on another on another, until all I can strain are snippets of words, stray syllables. This is true everywhere I have visited, and it promises good coffee, for I have found that when I can easily eavesdrop on others at…

    Lou Faber

  • PURSE AND WALLET

    A woman’s purse is inviolable territoryshe tells me, and no man dare look withinunless invited and that is as unlikey to happenas a man is to fully understand a woman. What she doesn’t say, but what time hasdemonstrated to me repeatedly, is thatwithin that small space is the solutionto most of life’s pressing problems, a…

    Lou Faber

  • CALL AGAIN

    You called again this morning, and,as usual, long before I was awake.You left no message, but you never do,and I do wish you’d stay in one place just for a while, it would make findingyou to speak with you much easier.This morning you were in Azerbaijan,and last week you called from Belarus. Later today you…

    Lou Faber

  • WANDER WHY

    The path meandered more than he rememberedbut he was the first to admithis memory was never his strongest suit.It didn’t help that he had consumedtwo margaritas at lunch, and even hedidn’t believe the excuse that this wasa slow day for him, still sober at two in the afternoon.But he wandered the path, for thatis what…

    Lou Faber

  • FAITH FULL

    It’s a question of faith.You have to have someeven if you doubt it, in factyour doubt is proof you have faithif only in doubt, for you knowyou cannot prove doubt,you just cling to itas a matter of faith.Your faith need not be religiousthough much of faith is,it can be philosophicalor whimsical if you prefer.It can…

    Lou Faber

  • SIMPLICITY

    It is simply a matterOf putting one footIn front of the otherIt all follows from that.But which foot goes first,He asked, I’d hateTo get off on the wrong one?

    Lou Faber

  • I WANT

    I want the sky to be that certain crimsontinged with burnt sienna and cinnabar,but today winter is holding swayand the sun sneaks off behindthe gray wall from which it only peeked,and left the day one of grayscalewhere intensity replaced beautyand even the cardinal opted to stayhigh in the spruce, offeringonly an occasional glint of red.We…

    Lou Faber

  • WORDS, WORDS, WORDS

    We are, he is convinced,devolving into verbal neanderthals,losing are ability to recognizethe linguistic tools that onceset us apart from other species,or at least so we assured ourselves.She knows that what truly sets usapart from other species is the arcaneskill we have at being ableto convince ourselves thatdelusion, firmly held, is fact.Still, she cannot disagree with…

    Lou Faber

  • CAT (PSYCH)OLOGY

    It wasn’t until I hitmiddle age, which on my scalewill allow me to live past 100,that I discovered that catsare Celtic deep in their hearts.Our cat, she who adopted meand forced her then ownerto marry me, like it or not,was in love with the tin whistleand the uilleann pipes playinghad her in my lap, unmoving.But…

    Lou Faber