an old writer and his words

  • AGAIN, FROM THE TOP

    How many years had it been?Neither of them wanted to count,each said they had moved on,neither knowing where on was.Yet when by chance they met againneither could say why it had ended,but each had been certain it wasthe other who had ended it, much,so very much to their surprise.That was always how it had been,each…

    Lou Faber

  • YUNMEN’S EVERYONE’S LIGHT

    If you say that youare seeking the lightof the dharmaa wise teacher willoffer you darkness.If you say you wishthe dark warmth of dharmathe wise teacher willoffer you light.When you see thatlight and darknessare the same, thenyou will havefully grasped dharma. A reflection on Case 81 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye) 正法眼蔵

    Lou Faber

  • EXPOSURE

    Now we choose to love in the dark,our minds unwilling to see whatour bodies now so willingly expose.It is not that our passion has wanedor abated, only that it has elongatedand our concept of time must be suspended .The mind now must concedeto the heart for it understandswhat the body can no longer do.Maturity allows…

    Lou Faber

  • CAMERA OBSCURED

    People stand in awelooking at what Ansel Adams’camera saw on those magical days.I am an outlier, for althoughI am struck by the beautyHis photographs offer my eyes,the stark play of light and dark,how shadows define a world,that is not what I wishthat I could see, for I wantnothing more than to seewhat Ansel Adams sawwith…

    Lou Faber

  • LET LIE

    A friend once told meto write down my dreamsfor they are a window intothe deepest corners of the psyche.Nevermind that much of the timeI cannot begin to remembermy dreams once awake,but those corners were darkfor a reason, and sheddinglight into them will onlycause the creatures who live thereto scurry about and seek shelterin other hidden…

    Lou Faber

  • FOR SPACIOUS SKIES

    It is a clear sign of my agethat I recall the hours we spentlearning about America, whatit stood for, how it was welcomingto immigrants from everywhere,why America was the greatestcountry in the world, and weincredibly naively ate it up.Vietnam brought us a large doseof the ugly reality of the modern age.Half a century on that…

    Lou Faber

  • PHONE HOME?

    Perhaps we spend too muchtime wondering if there arealiens of the ET sort among us. Let’a face it, if they areadvanced enough to get here,they ought to be able to fit inwithout standing out, sosorry Hollywood, it may makefor an exciting movie butit just isn’t all that likely. And before you remind meof UFO sightings,…

    Lou Faber

  • SETI

    Perhaps we spend too muchtime wondering if there arealiens of the ET sort among us. Let’s face it, if they areadvanced enough to get here,they ought to be able to fit inwithout standing out, sosorry Hollywood, it may makefor an exciting movie butit just isn’t all that likely. And before you remind meof UFO sightings,…

    Lou Faber

  • HABITS

    Tonight’s moon will looksimilar to last nights, or sowe assume since the cloudsdenied us that view again. It will be fuller, more plumpless an empty cup, now onealmost full, spilling its lightinto the all too dark sky. If she is hidden again, wewill turn to our imagination,for the moon is a creatureof habit, having learned…

    Lou Faber

  • ACUITY

    Acuity is such a strange word,sharp on the tongue andin meaning, but also a markof what once was, what willnever be again, replaced perhapsby a visual vacuity, comfortableword, no sharp edges, vagueimages floating behind a gauzeseeping slowly into a scrim,knowing the stage will soonenough go dark, despitethe ever brighter lighting.But replaced perhaps byever greater auditory…

    Lou Faber