an old writer and his words

  • ARCHEOLOGY

    On a belated honeymoon in Italywe wandered around the Roman Forumamazed at the ruins, imagining how theylooked once, how they had fallen so, eatenaway by time and endless stares of touristswho only wanted to touch history as ifit would grant them momentary immortality.Friends visiting Turkey sent picturesof the Hagia Sophia and that, in turn,returned my…

    Lou Faber

  • ONE

    He hated that they always said “one step at a time” as if it was possible to take two steps at a time. Maybe when we were quadrupeds, he thought, but it cannot work for mere bipeds. That is why he believed birds were the most lucky species, with cats a close second. The freedom…

    Lou Faber

  • AT THE APEX

    He reminds us that we are alsoapex predators just like the raptors,bald eagle, hawks, osprey, and whiletheir numbers have once again grownfrom the edge of extinction, we havemoved ever closer to it with our chemicalsolution to problems, our greed,our demand for what we desire,our environment be damned.He says the birds would speak to usbut they…

    Lou Faber

  • UNBOXED

    They thought they had himboxed in, contained, constrained,but he would not be truncated, cast aside.He would make a quiet escape, proceedcarefully so they would not realize,until it was too late, that he was freeof their control, their rejection, their spite.They wanted him in their psychic morgue,one more corpse sacrificed on their altarof conformity, but none…

    Lou Faber

  • VULCAN’S FLAMES

    The ark of hope had sailedalmost empty, their realitywas free falling, their dreamsconsumed in the furnaceof their greed, their arrogance.Time was hanging suspended,they were grasping at the handsof the clock perched now inover the growing abyss.Once they had been gods, orimagined themselves so, nowthey were fuel for Vulcan’s flames.Once they were prophetsof an unbounded, unbridled…

    Lou Faber

  • ACCESSIBILITY

    Technology has afforded those of uswith impairments the abilityto more fully participatein the world around us. However we can never lose sight,a painful use of the phrasein my case, of its imperfections. Perhaps it is merely anticipatingthe future of our species, as whenthe phones captioning decideda somewhat elided Marsha and Barrywas in fact Martian berries.As…

    Lou Faber

  • A SIMPLE TASK

    You misunderstand me, he said,I did not ask you to write a poemabout a flower, anyone can do that,I asked you to write a poem with a flower. Do not ask me what the poemwill be about, ask the flower, butfirst you must learn to speakthe language of the flowers. If you find this difficult,…

    Lou Faber

  • EXTINCT

    You want us to believeyou are small, kind creaturessucking hungrily on the teatof democracy. We see you for whoyou really are, parasiteswho would suck the teatdry until democracywithered and died. Some believe you,accept you blindlybut what will they doif you succeed, for likeany invasive specieswhen the host is gonethere is only mourning.

    Lou Faber

  • THE LADDER

    We have anointed ourselvesthe highest of species, ableto assert our dominion over allwhich might be fortunate enoughto fall within our protection. Some say we have eliminatedspecies, but they fail to recognizethat it was simply survivalof the fittest, that Darwinianrules must govern nature’s game. We mourn those gone, but neverpause to consider that basedon the game’s…

    Lou Faber

  • ALLIGATOR TEARS

    Despite my admittedly limted effortsI still fail to understand whypeople here have fallen so in lovewith plastic shoes, and more so,why they are called Crocsand feature a crocodile on the package. I know one species of crocdoes inhabit this country, but almostexclusively in South Florida,where alligators are far more prevalent. And in any event, if…

    Lou Faber