Formative poems. John Berryman’s Dream Songs and The Ball Poem. I re-read Dream Song 1 multiple times , as well as Number 4 and Number 14. It’s not just the content and the vulnerability — but the metrics, syntax, and punctuation. The timing and awkwardness in the lines captures so much neurosis, love, and longing …

The last few weeks, I’ve been focusing on producing talks instead of writing fiction and screenplays. There’s always a sense of failure with the latter. Does the proverbial tree make a sound if there’s no one there to witness it ? Likewise, is the story really a story of there’s no one there to listen …

Volunteer

My youngest has added a new way to start her week. She volunteers on Mondays at a cancer center, helping the patients with their exercises. It’s at 8:00 AM. She walks 20 minutes to get there , then 20 minutes back to campus. She reports the optimism and positive energy that each of the patients …

Kindle

Aliright. I’ve been an analog person for a long time, but this kindle reader that you can write in is changing my mind. Instead of having 5 paper journals, I now have them in one digital one, along with a library organized by themes. Usually I spent 400 bucks a year on paper and pens, …

A pretty perfect day. Awoke at 4:30 , as if something were pulling me out of bed. I immediately wrote, then went for a starlit walk with my wife. For some reason I had the notion that my red glasses would return to me. I scheduled time to clean the house in search of them. …

On this morning’s walk, the old man with the chihuahua didn’t say good morning. Instead, he stared at the woods that were getting destroyed by heavy machinery. One of the backhoes had the size, strength and roar of a dinosaur in a Jurassic Park. I joined him for a moment because I get it. It’s …