an old writer and his words

  • SENBAZURU

    For a reason I can no longer recallI began folding origami craneswith the intention of completinga senbazuru, 1000 cranes strungto hang somewhere although I knowI had no idea then where that might be.It was after reading how a youngJapanese girl folded 1000 cranes,in a hope for peace after Hiroshimawas devastated by our new bomb.I did…

    Lou Faber

  • ZERO

    It begana cloudless skyand two dogs runningdown the nearly empty street.It begana sudden heaterupting everywhereblown forwardinto suddenly parched groundunable to look upat the great cloud risingIt begansweeping upwarda new suncasting the oldin a shroudof ancestors.It beganthe vomitinguncontrollablein wavesebbing, neverrecedingIt begantwisted hulksragged monumentsa screamtearing earsmembranes rupturedIt beganwith an ending First Published in Ionosphere, Vol. 1, Issue…

    Lou Faber

  • SERVED COLD

    We had better hope that naturedoesn’t adopt that old adagethat revenge is a dish best served cold.Come to think of it, perhaps shehis toying with it now by her actionsgiven the climate changes we have wrought,And us always thinking nature wouldsomehow become subservient to us.But you can only defy the lawsof nature for so long,…

    Lou Faber

  • WE WANT, AGAIN

    We want to cry out,but we have no words. We want to screambut all we give is silence. We want to curse the invaderbut cannot be heardover the tanks, bombsand rockets. We want to mournbut there are so manyinnocents, wheredo we begin? We want to act,but we are incapableand can offeronly silent prayer.

    Lou Faber

  • ELEMENTARY

    Each morning we stoodas the Principal intonedthe Pledge of Allegianceover the tinny PA system.One morning as we rose,hands over hearts,we noticed someonehad put up the Canadian flagin the holder over the door.The Principal threatenedto call all of our parentsunless the guilty partycame forward, and westruggled vainlyto swallow our giggles.No one came forwardand they foundthe Stars…

    Lou Faber

  • ISRAEL’S JUSTIFICATION FOR THE BOMB

    Once it was fur hatsmen on horsebackswords and torchesour villages casting a faint glowfalling into dying embers,here, one whose skullbears the mark of the hoof,there an old onewho would go no farther. Once it was a helmettanks for horsesflames contained in crematoriacities taken for the deservingwe, merely ashesshoveled into a pit,here a tooth, its goldtorn…

    Lou Faber