Simple But Hard
Don’t start thinking of Gross Anatomy beginning in 5 months Just be here now Don’t get depressed by the upcoming summer convention spectacles Just be here now Don’t panic because of everything that has to…
Category: Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris
After Our Visit, Bella Levenshteyn Sent Me This Text
Just cried many many happy/grateful/I miss you/what did I do to deserve Perry’s friendship/I-love-you-so-eternally tears –from Our Heroic and Ceaseless 24/7 Struggle against Tsuris
The Journey of a Billion Miles Begins with a Single Breath
You have to get below the roiling waves of anger You have to stand shoulder-deep in sadness Then you can water your compassion and embrace one person after another Then you can see yourself in…
How Do You Tell Uncle Johnny Where You’re Going?
She bought her ticket She connected with her travel mates They’d be two weeks there Meeting people In the south In central In the north She was the youngest going Many were old-timers A couple…
Monday Morning
At the Lindell Schnucks Walking away from the self-checkout Passing two men round my age One says to the other “They found her dead in her car”
Tiger Tiger Burning Bright
They’ve got to be late 60s Some early 70s Same age as Gary Roi— Now what was Gary doing back in 1968 When the men of Tiger Force went about their war? How many of…
You’ve Got Better Things To Do, Like…
Read Margaret Smith’s biography of Rabi’a of Basra at some Lower East Side Odessa restaurant Take refuge in late March, early April underneath the tallest trees in Queens and the Bronx Write incandescent love poem to…
At Café Ventana, I Daydream, Seeing…
Your hand the first to shoot up in Torts You smiling serenely at the gunners You checking off your To Do list with equanimity You noticing the unjoie de vivre jaws of your friends, knowing, sooner of…
Louisville, July 1986
I was walking up Broadway towards 4th A rusty ’76 BMW 2002 going west sped by at 2:21 p.m. “Walking on Sunshine” blasted from the radio I thought of you
The Simplest and Hardest Question
At some point in each course, I ask a question that is one of the simplest and hardest questions of all. A hand may shoot up after I pose it, thus indicating an avid interest in…