an old writer and his words

  • WHITE BREAD

    He was nondescript, innocuous. He named his dog Dog. His cat was called Cat. He grew daring with his parakeet and named it Wings. He wore beige from head to toe. Even his Sunday best, his “weddings and funerals suit” he called it, was beige. People wondered if his underwear was beige. He swore that…

    Lou Faber

  • LIFE, ABBREVIATION

    Arrival noted, 11:30 P.M.delivery normal, babyprepared for agency, motherreleased in two days, babyto foster care, thento adoptive parents. No memories, save one,a fall, bathroom, headbleeding, black and whitefloor tile, radiator harderthan child’s skull. Now 70, the same person,a lying mirror each day,a small cemetery, WestVirginia, a headstonea mother finally,a life of mourning.

    Lou Faber

  • ONE FLAVOR ZEN

    How far must you wanderto taste the pure essence,hear the pure note,see deeply into beauty,smell the first flower of spring,touch another heart.Will you grow tiredfrom standing stillin total silencecontemplating this? A reflection on Case 65 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (Trud Dharma Eye)

    Lou Faber

  • ARIA

    After years of embarrassmentI have finally come into the light.It isn’t that my writing has improved,although I surmise that wouldbe a narrow space to fill,or that I can now draw thingsthat were once stick peopleand animals and things. What has improved, andimproved significantlyis my singing voice, oncea three note range, and onenot known to music,but…

    Lou Faber

  • MELODY

    The melody arose from the most unexpected place.They heard it deep within the woodsand even the birds fell silentpeering around, searchingfor its unrevealed source.It carried on for several versesand then, as quickly as it cameit was gone, the final notecarried off by a spring wind.No one entered, no one leftthe woods that dayand though many…

    Lou Faber

  • NOTA BENE

    Sometime this week you will get a note. You will not know who it is from, and you won’t be at all certain just what it is supposed to mean, but you will carefully fold it, place it in your pocket and later put it in a safe place along with all the other notes…

    Lou Faber