an old writer and his words

  • SUPPLICANT

    Darwin says that we emergedfrom the sea, eventually grew legs,evolved until we got to now.I suspect he is correct, butI must question whether thisis truly evolution or mere change.Perhaps it once was just asDarwin described, changessorting themselves out by howthe changed survived comparedto those left unchanged and wondering.But we have transcended Darwin,cast him off for…

    Lou Faber

  • CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

    Walking back through my lifeI can now begin to see when and wherethings changed, where I changed, wherethe place I thought of as my homebecame alien, altered, as thoughthe weathering of time wore awaywhat I now know were carefully appliedveneers, real enough seeming to meand to others who stopped to visit.And when the music changed…

    Lou Faber

  • KOYO’S GARUDA BIRD

    When you sit on the cushionthere is only you, there is onlythe cushion, nothing more.When you rise from the cushionwhat becomes of you?Do you change, are youin some way different?But if there is no youif there is only onethen the cushiondoes not matter any longer. A reflection on Case 44 of the Book of Equanimity…

    Lou Faber

  • DEPARTURE

    She is leaving too soon.We know she is leaving,we know there is nothingthat can be done to changeher departure, only the timeremains uncertain, but nowit is clear it will be soon. It is not right or fair, we know,but that has little to do withwhen one must depart,time and fate are ficklein that way, and…

    Lou Faber

  • BENT ARROW

    He would never understand how time developed a flexibility that defied the laws of physics. An hour, a minute, a second, they were all standard measures. Each the same as every other. Yet lately they had changed, flexed. For the most part they had gotten shorter, shrunken. He knew that wasn’t possible until he remembered…

    Lou Faber

  • STOIC

    He will do it again tomorrow as he did yesterday and each day before that for as long as he can remember. He would like not to have to do it, but he knows he must, just as he knows the outcome will be almost the same, just the slightest of changes imperceptible from day…

    Lou Faber

  • PAPER CUTS

    Paper is at once boththe cruelest invention a writermay have stumbled acrossand also her salvation. The blank page invites,often demands the penand is unjudging, yet the poetmay change or deletebut the paper retains the originaland throws it back in his face. The computer, many say,changed all of that, backspaceor highlight and delete andthat mistake, misuse,…

    Lou Faber

  • NOT YET

    The man walked into the old dinerlooking not at all happy,dressed in what looked likea white robe he found in some alley. He ordered coffee and glancedaround, as if seeking onefamiliar face, finding manythat looked like that of his father, like him,for that matter, and he knewfrom this quick glance thatthey were not yet ready,…

    Lou Faber

  • TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT

    I am there, a classroom,elementary or middle school,Charleston, West Virginia1930’s, girls in proper skirts,saddle shoes, the old womanat the front of the room,first day of a new year. “Jones”, a hand goes up,“Murphy”, another rises slowly,“Padlibsky, what kindof name is that, Jew, orsome kind or Ruskie maybe?”A small voice answersLithuanian, ma’am. A scene that neverhappened,…

    Lou Faber

  • DECISION TIME

    Checking the calendar, I seethat today I must makea profound decision that willaffect my life for years to come. I am certain it will not bea simple decision, importantdecisions seldom are, and thisoffers multiple but no easy choices. I have long taken the facile wayaround the issue, a straightforward“same as everyone else does”approach that has…

    Lou Faber