an old writer and his words

  • PERIODICALLY

    Periodically we go to see the birdsin their natural habitat, which we knowis not natural for we have taken so muchof it for our own and left them what weimagine their habitat should look like.We assume the birds do not watch usstanding there gawking, trying notto disturb them from what they are doing.We do not…

    Lou Faber

  • AFFIXED

    I can only begin to imaginehow utterly strange I must lookto the Great Blue Heron standingin the wetland behind our home.What must he make of this odd creaturewith thick legs that seemdisproportionately short comparedto their bodies, why their neckshave such limited mobility, whythey cannot look behind themselvesor scratch their chins with their toes.But the birds…

    Lou Faber

  • STOICS

    This afternoon the vulture couplesit stoically on the limbsof the long dead tree in the preserve. The rain was torrentialas we watched from the dryconfines of our home, theystood soaked to the featherswith nowhere to hide, knowingthey couldn’t out fly or out climbthe purging clouds, so they setsoaking wet and stared at us. And then…

    Lou Faber

  • ALOFT

    He had always imagined coveringhis body in feathers.He knew it wouldn’t make him ableto take flight, but it would, he was certaingrant him a certain lightnessthat gravity and daily life denied him.And he knew that once coveredin his dreams he could soarfree of the restrictions thathis conscious mind imposed on him,restrictions, he knew, that werethe…

    Lou Faber

  • FEATHERS

    He crouched in the hollow in the ancient cliff careful not to disturb the bones scattered just in the shadows behind. He waited patiently until he heard the sweep of the great wings and the mighty bird alighted on its nest. He reached out quickly and plucked two feathers never more, and pulled back into…

    Lou Faber