an old writer and his words

  • COLUMN B

    In college, as an English majorI chose Chaucer as my mandatoryColumn B on the menu, Shakespearemy easy Column A choice since the bardand I were at least passingly familiaralthough he claimed not to remember me.Milton just wasn’t my cup of meadso he easily became the odd man out.I listened to the lectures, got comfortablewith the…

    Lou Faber

  • NEBULAS

    I can still recall the hoursspent dragging the giantDobsonian Telescope from the houseinto the yard, back or frontdepending on his demands.Then together we would aimthe beast, a simple tube really,with precisely placed lensesand mirrors, and he wouldpeer through the eyepieceand tell me what we were staring at.Actually he was staring, but hewould give me a…

    Lou Faber

  • NONFAT CORTADO

    There was a time when Iwould steal away for an hourand sit in the corner of my favoritecoffee shop, watching people.There would always be students,fidgeting in a hurry to besomewhere for which they are latebut dare not face uncaffeinated.There was an older man,his white and gray hair an absurdversion of the Friars of old,the man…

    Lou Faber

  • ET TU

    As kids every couple of weekswe’d take our allowances,go down to the variety storeand buy the latest DC comic. Larry and I would spendthat afternoon imaginingwe were whatever superherowas featured in our new,and now most prized book. Jimmy was with usall the way, but admittedhe wanted to be Lex Luthor oror the Joker, or better…

    Lou Faber

  • NOT EVEN CLOSE

    It was Salvador Dali who once said:“Have no fear of perfection,you’ll never reach it.”It might have easily have beenmy creative writing professorin College, although he wouldhave added, “and in your caseI doubt you’ll ever get close.” Well over time I havecertainly proved Dali right,although I’d like to thinkthe esteemed professormissed the mark, butas Cage said,…

    Lou Faber

  • IN HIS IMAGE

    He said the assignment isan easy one for this class,write a piece, poem or story,your choice, but focused on a single metaphor. Oh,and to make it interesting,that metaphor should bethe last pet you owned orcurrently own, and if you’venever been blessed with a pet,use an ocelot or a lynx. How hard could it be, I thought,I…

    Lou Faber

  • FINALS

    It was approaching the end of another too long semester and the sign-up sheet for office hours was getting fuller with names I didn’t recognize, or did and not in a way that would please the student. It was always like this, the two weeks after it was too late to do anything, when the…

    Lou Faber