an old writer and his words

  • SPLIT

    Setting apart, that is our skill:bifurcating, creating dualities.Is it that unity scares us, certaintyunavoidable, no room to escape,to deny, to invoke missing nuance?One of my religious heritagessays you remove head coveringson entering a sanctuary, the otherthat you put one on upon doing so.One says you are born a sinnerthe other says until a certain ageyou…

    Lou Faber

  • STOP WORRYING

    Last month a snakecrawled up our downspouttrying to find shade orjust a place for an afternoon nap.I took his picture, askedan app what he wasand the app answered.The snake said “youcould have asked me,and I would have told youmy name is Hector,but all you cared aboutwas what species I was.It is always that waywith your…

    Lou Faber

  • NEVER IMAGINING

    The bridge was there finally, and with some trepidation she crossed it. She knew it led to a brave (hopefully) new world. She knew it would take time and a lot of work to acclimate herself to this alien land, but she also knew there could be no turning back, for the place she knew…

    Lou Faber

  • DEAR SIR OR MADAM

    Dear politician:I received what seemedlike a stream of emails from youthis week and I would like youto stop sending them, but of courseyour unsubscribe link doesn’t work.I trust you got it from the same peoplethat fail to wire the Close Door buttonson nearly every elevator I have ridden.Please know you are wastingyour time seeking money…

    Lou Faber

  • APP-LICATION DENIED

    I can still recall my grandmother saying,whenever she thought I should be outsiderather than sitting in my room with a book,that “idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Jewsdid not believe in the devil and that,in any event my hands were engagedin holding the book and turning pages.I…

    Lou Faber

  • A READING

    He walks up to the podiumsmiling at the introduction he wrotedelivered by someone who likelyhad never read his work, and set his bookand notes down on the lectern.As he begins to read he cannot let onthat he is a magician poet for theywould demand a trick and allthat he is prepared to do this nightis…

    Lou Faber

  • YUNYAN SWEEPS THE GROUND

    If your teacherapproaches you asyou are sitting zazenand asks if youare working hard,how do you answer?If you say yes he willchide you for zazenis not work, butif you say no, hewill tell youto work much harderat your practice. A reflection on Case 83 of Dogen’s Shobogenzo Koans (True Dharma Eye) 正法眼蔵

    Lou Faber

  • CLUELESS

    As someone who once taught Introductionto Literature at a local college, I was alwaysamazed to learn how little my studentsseemed to know about the great canon of workthat was the foundation of all they read.Some at least recognized that the West Side Storytheir parents had forced them to watch,and worse, to listen to, was based…

    Lou Faber

  • TOMORROW

    He always thought he did some of his best work when he was operating under an impending deadline. He had honed that skill over many years, professionally when deadlines moved and were reset constantly, and personally. He called it brinkmanship, but he knew others no doubt saw it as a potent cocktail of bravado and…

    Lou Faber

  • PLACE NAME HERE

    Among all of the so-called artswriting does stand alone.How often have you seen arthanging on gallery wallsand look at the card next to itto see what the work is calledand find that all too uniquitous title,UNTITLED, as if the artist’s powerof language escaped into his brushes.And let’s not talk about composer’swhose work is later numberedand…

    Lou Faber