an old writer and his words

  • SAY WHAT?

    There is a Buddhist expression that you cannotstep into the same river twice, which makesa certain amount of sense since the river changesfrom moment to moment, and the river youfirst step in is gone even before you step out.But you can step into the same accent repeatedlyif you tune your ear and listen carefully.Those who…

    Lou Faber

  • LISTEN UP

    The cat says thatwe need to talkbut my language skillsare still lackingso she will writeher thoughts onmy arm with a claw.

    Lou Faber

  • BOTH AND NEITHER

    We are both master and slaveand reverberating between rolescan be exhausting and exhilarating,on occasion both simultaneously.It seems we are always strivingto catch up to technology, that itis outpacing us and that the racemay soon enough be lost.We say that we cannot live withoutthese technologies and while theymay do things faster and more simplythey do so…

    Lou Faber

  • TROVE

    He says he has founda treasure trove of home movies8mm film in small metal cans,the sprocket holes intactfor the most part, my childhoodI thought captured on 35mm slidesthat I am too cheap to payto have digitized, my adoptiveparents ill at ease with a cameraassuming always back lightingwas preferable, and I admitit was nice to be…

    Lou Faber

  • FOUND POEM

    Each morning, beforeI finish my morning cappuccino,I scan my email, hoping to finda perfect poem that hasgone forever unclaimed. I have enough skillto alter it sufficientlythat I can safely claim itas my own, if the ownerever were to appear,by adding, After XXXXX. All I have ever foundis the odd limerick andfrankly I can to betteron…

    Lou Faber

  • LINES

    We love drawing lines and borders. There are few things we do better than that. But increasingly we have lost our once finely honed skill at placing them where they ought to be. I won’t even get into walls on borders to keep out families, those like our families were once. I mean small lines…

    Lou Faber

  • JUMPING OFF POINT

    She says the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. He doesn’t have the heart to tell her That on a cosmic scale space is curved and no one wants the short straw anyway. She can, of course, read him, a skill she knows is reserved for women and is one of frustration…

    Lou Faber

  • MASTER CRAFTSMAN

    He waited patiently in the queue until, after two and one half hours he approached the battered metal counter. The young, bored woman, chewing at her gum asked the usual question, have you looked hard for work this last week? I stood in many lines, for hours on end in my battered old shoes, that…

    Lou Faber

  • 00100000 01110111 01101001 01101100

    There will come a time in the not distant future when words will be rendered unnecessary, when thought will be freely transmissible, when distance will become a lost dimension. That day will be one of mourning, much as we mourned the death of the Underwood Champion, joined in death with the Royal Standard and a…

    Lou Faber

  • THE SAVAGE BREAST

    You must pause and marvel, if you will, that only the flute – from the simple wooden to the most elegant metal – when played by skilled hands, can transport the listener. Some would say to heaven, others to hell, and often at exactly the same moment.

    Lou Faber