an old writer and his words

  • IN HIDING

    I am not certain whether it is happenstanceor God just has a wicked sense of humor.I love the idea of fruit, something wonderfulhiding under a protective skin, and by fruitI mean anything developing from the ovaryof a flowering plant, so avocados are fruit.The sense of humor comes from the designGod chose, the outer covering that…

    Lou Faber

  • IN MY MOTHER’S HOUSE

    In my mother’s housethe refrigerator was dottedby little plastic fruitand the phone numberof a plumber we had once used,my sisters latest drawingpresaging a careerin health service managementa shopping listand my brother’s report cardshowing exemplary effortbut a weakness in spellingand my upcoming appointmentat the orthodontist. In my housethe refrigerator is dottedwith little wordsfrom Shakespeareand Chaucerand those…

    Lou Faber

  • A PEELING

    Why do we persistin peeling the onionas if expecting wewill find anythingother than onion below?We cling to false hopeknowing in the endthere will be nothingdespite our efforts.We are the oneswho curse the coreof the apple asspace taken wherefruit should benever imaginingthere could be nofruit if nature choseto grant our wish.

    Lou Faber

  • AND THE RAINS CAME

    It may sound odd, but what I miss mostis the spring rain, so short lived, alongthe roads in Highland Park in Rochester.You may say “but you live in Floridawhere the seasons are measured bywet and dry” and we do get rain, sometimesseemingly in Biblical proportions.and the Blue-winged Teals have returnedto our wetland now almost half…

    Lou Faber

  • GALLERY

    I have visited countlessart galleries in this countryand a few in Europe as well and Ialways stop and stare at the masters’still life paintings, how the lightplays off a piece of fruit, howthe glazed porcelain on a ewerseems to make the reflected lightinvite you to dance with it.I wanted to sip tea from a china…

    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

  • BEARING FRUIT

    Tomorrow it will be timewith the two mangoes in the fruit bowlto make the ultimate sacrifice.Some say they were born to the taskand perhaps so, but the treefrom which they were torn saidit was not yet their time, that shewould have released them in due coursebut our impatience demanded otherwise.I will take my two knives,…

    Lou Faber

  • WEBBING

    The giant spider in its black shroudsits irritated in the center of its webwishing it ever larger, demandingthat others enter, become enthralleduntil it defines the parametersof the universe the spider imagines. The giant spider silently seethesat the once gardener who, havingtasted the forbidden fruit,has closed the screened dooras he reluctantly departed the gardendiminishing the web’s…

    Lou Faber

  • GOOD DAY (GOODNIGHT)

    Every morning we are able, we go outon the lanai and have our fruit bowlsthen our cappuccinos with toastfrom her homemade sourdoughwhole wheat bread, and watchcountless birds fly outof the wetland that abuts our yard.The cat is always awaitingour arrival, usually sleepingon one of our oak rockers.She will look up at us, yawnand when we…

    Lou Faber

  • MARS

    Mars has risen in the western sky. Perhaps it is waiting for the moonto draw our attention,but the moon is periodicallyirascible, as tonight, and haschosen to abandon Marsto the stellar firmament. Mars has risen in the western sky. I wander into the dark in searchof the peace that onlynight affords, but the horizonis war and…

    Lou Faber