Author Archives: John Swinburn

Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter. ~ Chinua Achebe

Leaning over the deck railing, I felt as if I might lose my balance and tumble twenty feet to the rocks and shrubbery below, so I stood upright and stepped back. Then, I heard it again; a loud rustling, the sound … Continue reading →

We could do worse than live our lives as scavengers, seekers of the used and discarded. By giving new life to the the too-early-abandoned outcasts deemed by others wrung of practical value, we enrich our lives and give the planet … Continue reading →

When I hear the word ‘serpent,’ my brain conjures a willfully angry and vengeful creature, a beast slithering toward its prey.  The monster’s aim is emphatically malevolent, its mind filled with animosity. ‘Snake,’ on the other hand, does not arouse in … Continue reading →

Standing outside late at night, after lights have dimmed and eyes have adjusted to darkness, the brilliance of stars in a clear sky is overwhelming. It literally takes my breath away. Only then does the unfathomable scale of the universe become … Continue reading →

I can stare at the yellow lines on a desolate asphalt highway for hours, creating my own fantasy with nothing but wishes as fuel. Why can’t I, instead, imagine the joy of making intricate carvings in wood that’s hard as steel, using … Continue reading →

Life is not a cathedral; it is a cauldron. Despite promises that staying ‘in the moment’ brings tranquility, that pacific state carries emotional risks unmatched in their fury. Desire is a bastard with sharp teeth and claws.

Disappointments are inevitable, but not necessarily damaging. Failure to attain one’s goals or otherwise stumbling when an objective is in reach tends to build one’s humility. Humility is a characteristic that speaks volumes of a person’s experience in the world; … Continue reading →

Our misguided youth becomes misaligned adulthood. Our early flaws and foibles come to define who we are. We’re on a pathway that was destined, from the start, to reveal the mistakes that made us who we are. Old age is … Continue reading →

Hidden beneath tangled layers of memories modified by time and experience are clear, true recollections that remain pristine and unaltered. I believe those recollections, those brilliant reminiscences etched so deeply into the brain that neither time nor experience can change them, hold the … Continue reading →

Honesty is a dangerous trait when it accompanies primal passion and raw lust. Those might be the words of a character I write, or they could be mine. Where does one end and the other begin? Or, is it possible, they are one and … Continue reading →

If we had no television, no electric lights, no natural gas, no books, no internet, and no battery-powered devices awash in music, night-time would be a radically different experience from the way it is now. We’d watch the stars and, perhaps, … Continue reading →

The answer probably resides somewhere on the internet, but I have never looked for it there. Instead, I’ve just wondered—for quite some time, actually—when razors were invented. Before razors, people with beards like mine would have been pitied; they would … Continue reading →