Friday, August 21, 2015

Writing and Memory #6

Writing is painful/
Facing one's sad verities/
Emblazoned in words.


Life’s sad vagaries/
Often occlude happiness/
Thwarting life’s fullness.
  

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Writing and Memory #5

 The persisting past/
Fabricates childhood bliss through/
Memory’s deceit.


“Now smile and say ‘cheese’”/
Childhood’s formal portraiture/
Instamatic joy. 


Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Writing and Memory #4

Distilled memories/
Of blissful childhood wracked and/
Rooted in the past.


As I grew older/
I put away childish things/
Now I want them back.






Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Writing and Memory #3

Memory impales/
Through its bitter verities/
The wish to forget.


 Dissimulation/
Life’s long struggle to conceal/
Inconstant terrors. 
  

Monday, August 17, 2015

Writing and Memory #2


An acknowledgment/
That love’s true inconstancy/
Is life’s saddest jest.


The past dissembles/
Then rearranges itself/
Revealing little.


Sunday, August 16, 2015

Writing and Memory #1

Our auspicious start/
Hand-in-hand through life’s journey/
Never letting go. 


Thursday, August 6, 2015

A Theory of Life



“Autobiographies do not form indisputable authorities. They are always incomplete, and often unreliable. Eager as I am to put down the truth, there are difficulties; memory fails especially in small details, so that it becomes finally but a theory of my life, with much forgotten and misconceived, with valuable testimony but often less than absolutely true, despite my intention to be frank and fair.” -- W.E.B. DuBois

A theory of life/
With memory's perfidy/
Occluding small truths. 

 

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Baldwin Day

The life and work of the late, great writer James Baldwin occupies a central place of importance in my own life and intellectual work. Each year on his birthday (August 2), I present images and haiku based on my understanding and interpretation of his influence. I have added a couple of new thoughts, followed by some from the previous collection.