Category Archives: journal

journal

The Beach in Winter

Posted on December 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

The rain blows sideways and the ocean tumbles in long rills of white and grey, diffusing into the sand and barely holding its own against the sky. A seagull patrols outside our window, constantly turning his head from side to side, watching our movements for a gesture that might suggest a meal. Swaying curtains of rain are drawn over the tide pools that burst with life in the summertime. Flower beds surrounding the hotel are buried in water, forming tiny moats. Life at the beach in winter is about the next friendly conversation, the next cup of coffee and changing out of wet socks.

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Tagged

Using Gifts

Posted on December 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

If God gives you something you can do, why in God’s name wouldn’t you do it?

—Stephen King

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

The Way Down from the Gallows

Posted on December 21, 2011 | Leave a comment

“The only way down from the gallows is to swing.”
– Tom Waits

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Coffin Corners

Posted on December 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

In the houses of new England, where the steep and narrow staircases turned at the landing, they often built niches into the walls so coffins being carried down the stairs could easily make the turn. Death at home, in bed, was a fact of life no less than cooking in kettles hung over a kitchen fire and sleeping in unheated rooms. Passing a coffin corner on your way downstairs to breakfast every morning would have been an unremarkable reminder of what daily life told you in myriad ways, that life is brief and death is inseparable from the day to day experience of life. Mexico’s day of the dead makes the same point with a twist of mordant humor thrown in. In the USA of the 21st century maybe we fear death so because we have lost our friendship with it.

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Tagged

These bright, frigid mornings…

Posted on December 13, 2011 | Leave a comment

The Canada geese were huddled in the only sliver of the pond this morning that was not frozen over. Their avuncular mood does not change on these bright, frigid mornings. They greet the day with the same stolid optimism on the days when the sleet blows sideways and the sun seems gone for an eternity. Where are the men to match them in their world view?

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Tagged ,

Work

Posted on November 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

The poet Transtromer says work is a glove that lets man touch the universe. Yet shod or shoeless, shivering or encased in cashmere,
the simple dignity of work eludes most of us. A deer in the forest has places to lie down and listen to the wind in the branches. The ordinary worker counts himself lucky to glimpse the sky on the weekend while raking leaves and wondering if his job will last until the Spring. When did work become a desert island while the seas slowly rise around us?

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Tagged ,

Release – a 50 Word Mini Saga

Posted on November 18, 2011 | Leave a comment

Detlef entered the 34″ high modified Trabi sedan through the trunk. He only had to drive it straight 150 feet under two barricades to reach West Berlin. He rammed the accelerator, the engine whined–then shouting, bullets popping, his vision narrowed–and the dizzy, slow tunnel to freedom opened a crack.

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Tagged

A Message Left by Occupy Portland

Posted on November 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

As police cleared the park, taking advantage of the crowd fatigue and getting very rough with the protestors despite what the media reported, this was the last message that remained. It is a bit hard to read– it says “wake the fuck up.”

Indeed.

20111114-165438.jpg

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Tagged

Another Protest Sign

Posted on November 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

I couldn’t afford to buy a politician so I bought this sign.

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Another protest sign

Posted on October 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

Seen on a dog:

Biscuits not Bombs

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

More Street Protest Signs

Posted on October 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

“First they laugh at you, then they ignore you, then they fight with you, then you win.”

–Ghandi

and:

Occupy the Present

Seen at the Occupy Portland rally, confirming the stereotype that Portland is home to the best educated underclass around.

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Occupying Wall Street Signs

Posted on October 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

I love the Occupy Wall Street protest signs in the streets across America (finally!)
Here are some of my favorites:

NYPD is a Layoff Away From Joining Us
1 Fuck Every 4 years is Not a Sex Life, 1 Vote Every 4 Years is Not a Democracy
My battle buddies are not losing their limbs and lives for congress to take bribes
They Pee On Us and They Say it is Raining
If You Are Out of Work and Hungry, Eat a Hedge Fund Manager
Wall Street: America’s largest casino since 1914!!!
I won’t believe corporations are people until Texas executes one
We Are You
You can never find a good left wing military coup when you need one
The Weed Smell is Coming From Over Here
94% of winning candidates had more money than their opponents — this is democracy??
I can’t afford a lobbyist: I am the 99%
The Clothes Have No Emperor
Capitalism vs. Humanity Wants You
No more government by auction
Jump You Fuckers!
Stop Cock Blocking the Economy
Mr. Obama Tear Down This Empire!
This revolution will not be privatized
The corrupt fear us, the honest support us, the heroic join us
Compassion is revolutionary
I could lose my job for having a voice
Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit
The power of the people is stronger than the people in power
Loan Sharks Ate my World
I am a born again American!
Turn off the TV, join the revolution
Due to recent budget cuts, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off
14 Trillion in debt by Harvard’s finest
The Needs of the 99% are being silenced by the Wants of the 1%
If you make less than 250k, then you need to be on this side!
Money is Not Speech
To Glorify Democracy and Silence the Voice of the People is Farce
Zero Media Coverage
Who Wants to Make a Beer Run?
Definition of Fascism: Profit is Private and Loss is Public and Social
Our Civil Rights are not Subject to Change
Bring Back Crystal Pepsi

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Tagged ,

Temper and Pride

Posted on October 7, 2011 | Leave a comment

“ Temper is what gets most of us into trouble. Pride is what keeps us there. ”

— Mark Twain

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Happiness

Posted on June 30, 2011 | Leave a comment

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.

–Ghandi

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

A Tincture in the Blood

Posted on June 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

Nature has left this tincture in the blood that all men would be tyrants if they could.

–Daniel Defoe

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

A Prodigal Son

Posted on June 20, 2011 | Leave a comment

a prodigal son
home for his eighteenth birthday
serenades his dad.

Leave a comment

Posted in journal, poetry

Tagged

Escape to Portland

Posted on June 17, 2011 | Leave a comment

“We escaped to Portland…where even wilted things grow.”

–Marc Acito

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Tagged

As Beautiful as Roses

Posted on June 9, 2011 | Leave a comment

“Money, which represents the prose if life, and which is hardly spoken if in parlors without an apology, is, in it’s effects and laws, as beautiful as roses. ”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Tagged

The Columbia Today at Flood Stage

Posted on May 23, 2011 | Leave a comment

Leave a comment

Posted in journal

Still Life with Wisteria

Posted on May 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

Leave a comment

Posted in journal