an old writer and his words

  • CATALOG

    The cat is a fastidious clerk,aware of all new items as they arriveand cataloging them as soonas they are placed in the home.Chairs in particular must beclosely inspected, tested forsleepability and comfort, and yetall seem to pass the test initiallythough some are abandonedquickly, giving way to othersthat have met the test of time.It is much…

    Lou Faber

  • COLOURS

    We hunted him as a stagacross his fields, trophywe called him red man,color of Ares, godssacrificed on our altar,his rivers run with his spirit.I am whitebereft of color,barren, a glarea desert stripped of life.It is I who wearCain’s mark, pluckedfrom the gardenthe sweet taste fadesmy lips are dry.You are blackan amalgam, greenof the grasses in…

    Lou Faber

  • POLISH

    Mother made a point of remindingme to polish my shoes, she saiduntidy shoes are the markof a poor man, one to be avoided. I noticed she never wore shoesthat needed polish, never had waxand brush in hand, and when her shoesshowed wear they were replaced. I learned early not to talk backto her, the penalty…

    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

  • SLICED CLICHE

    He is fond of saying that heis the best thing since sliced bread. There is so much wrongwith that statement, evenignoring that he is the onewho keeps repeating it. If he were that great,and no one is rushing to suggestthat he has even approached it,wouldn’t he want to be justas great as sliced bread? And…

    Lou Faber

  • MARKED

    The oddest thing about being Buddhist is what I once was, and not just in a prior life. Born, it turns out, and adopted into a secular Jewish family, I must still be Jewish even if I might have lapsed back to secularity, they say, because my Jewishness is a mark, Cain-like it seems, though…

    Lou Faber