an old writer and his words

  • KNOWLEDGE

    I suppose I ought not be shockedwhen my grandson, all of twelve,explains to me the conceptof the expanding universe, norwhen asked about the capitalof Burundi fires back Gitegaand adds that Burundi has threeofficial languages, English, Frenchand of course Kirundi, and I nodhoping my ignorance isn’t obvious.I don’t dare ask how he knowslest he says everyone…

    Lou Faber

  • PHOTOGRAPHER

    Photographers we know are struggling,the wedding business has dried up, dessicatedby the years of the pandemic, the tighteningof matrimonial cost belts, no doubt other reasons.Wedding photography is hard on both the coupleand those with fingers on the shutter button.I cannot remember by first wedding, the marriageitself thankfully fading as well with the freedomof time, the…

    Lou Faber

  • COMMON UNDERSTANDING

    It didn’t surprise him that hequickly understood the catthey adopted during the pandemicfor all he had to do was applybasic feline logic, that everythingin her new home was eitherhers or theirs collectively,it was just that simple.He had come from a place,a life, where there had beenhers and theirs, simple.When that life ended, as everyonebut him…

    Lou Faber

  • ENFORCED SILENCE

    The city is a ghost town,the ghosts peering warilyfrom windows they nowwish they had takenthe time to have cleaned,and now there is timeand no one to clean. They fear the silence,cannot fathom the smellof the air, somethingfaintly like a cool morningfrom their suburban childhoods. They have found pots,pans cast aside or usedfor any purpose otherthan…

    Lou Faber

  • HOME?

    The news, online and on paper,is replete with storiesabout adult children movingback in with their parents,whether because of the pandemic,or other circumstances, alwaysexpecting they willhave a room at the ready. Perhaps it is why wechose to have no spare rooms,sort of a preemptive strikeagainst an ill-conceived return. But as my cohort ages,I wonder if all…

    Lou Faber

  • THE RIGHT WAY

    In a world besetby poverty and pandemic,global warming and hunger,there are a myriadof questons urgentlyrequiring answers. Among themis not the questionof the proper wayto eat with a fork,or more preciselyhow to hold itwhen bringing foodto the mouthfrom the plate. I was taught to holdit like a pen, buttilted so I lookeddown on the tinesbent in…

    Lou Faber

  • BEARDED

    It is growing more common for menof a certain age, one I have attained,to grow beards, and that was beforethe pandemic made them ubiquitousamong those of the male gender. I noted this aloud and a young childsmiled at me and said, “of course,you have to have a beard becausethe hair inside your head has to…

    Lou Faber

  • TODAY

    Today we want very much to praybut words fail us yet again, and we doubtGod would hear our entreaty anyway,since this is a disaster of our own making. This is the problem of free will, as so manydiscovered across Europe during the secondof the wars to end all wars, as did the peopleof Hiroshima and…

    Lou Faber

  • BUCKET LIST

    Crossing the Rubicon,or any other European Riverfor that matter. Skiing the backcountryor Black Diamond at Taos Mountainor Aspen or Vail. Hiking to the basecampof Everest, or walking some portionor all of the Appalachian Trail. Standing shoulder to shoulderwith hundreds of othersat the jazz festival. Hugging my sons orkissing my grandchildrenon their birthdays. Forgetting all that…

    Lou Faber

  • AFTER ALL

    After all that has happened,after all of the changestumbling one upon another,after breathing again new air,after ceding fear to hopewhen I sit down to write itall I have at the endis a small glass of snowin the middle of July.

    Lou Faber