Author Archives: John Swinburn

About John Swinburn

"Love not what you are but what you may become."― Miguel de Cervantes

Life After Life, An Untold Story

Posted on April 29, 2020 by John Swinburn

An unfortunate fact about life is that it does not go on forever. Rather, life does not go on long enough for some of us to learn the ultimate outcome of intriguing circumstances swirling around us. Take the novel coronavirus, … Continue reading →

Posted in Covid-19, Demographics, Economics | Leave a comment

Masked Man at the Market and More

Posted on April 28, 2020 by John Swinburn

This morning began with a few sips of coffee and a quick view of online news before I jumped in the car and headed to the grocery store for the “senior hour.” But I got my wires crossed. I thought … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Attractive Definitions

Posted on April 27, 2020 by John Swinburn

A dictionary’s second definition of metaphysics is the one that pleases me most: Philosophy, especially in its more abstruse branches. The corresponding definition of the primary adjectival form, metaphysical, pleases me just as much: Concerned with abstract thought or subjects, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Time | Leave a comment

Musical Provocation

Posted on April 26, 2020 by John Swinburn

I listened to a mariachi version of Laura’s Theme from Doctor Zhivago yesterday afternoon, thanks to an email message Gustavo Arellano sent to his followers. Arellano is best known for his “Ask a Mexican” syndicated column that originated with the … Continue reading →

Posted in Emotion, Music | Leave a comment

Self-Care in Isolation

Posted on April 25, 2020 by John Swinburn

I had to search a while for the source of the list that prompted the modified version below.  A friend posted it on her Facebook feed; it took me some time even to find that post. Then, it was not … Continue reading →

Posted in Covid-19, Philosophy | Leave a comment

Hiding Behind Masks

Posted on April 25, 2020 by John Swinburn

Who are we, people who leave our homes with naked faces but who, before we interact with others, cover up with masks? Are we hiding our personalities behind those masks? Are we secretly glad to conceal our identities from strangers? … Continue reading →

Posted in Covid-19 | Leave a comment

Elvin’s Exorcism

Posted on April 24, 2020 by John Swinburn

I’ll try something different today. Instead of attempting without success to craft a wannabe witty stream-of-consciousness screed, I’ll explain myself. My name is Elvin and I live inside a body that is not my own. I use it because it … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | Leave a comment

Trusting Strangers II

Posted on April 23, 2020 by John Swinburn

I failed to finish my last post. That oversight was caused by a combination of memory lapse and the fact that I had to drive to Little Rock to return a courtesy car and pick up the Outback. Nine-hundred-forty-two dollars … Continue reading →

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Trusting Strangers

Posted on April 23, 2020 by John Swinburn

Hitchhiking had developed an ugly reputation by the time I was in college. Both drivers and prospective hitchhikers were warned, by that time, of the dangers of allowing strangers into one’s car or entering the cars of strangers. Bad things—robbery, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Fat Chance

Posted on April 22, 2020 by John Swinburn

I drove our Subaru Outback to Little Rock yesterday. I drove a Subaru Ascent home. The service department told me the work on my car (65K maintenance, exhaust system recall notice work, and four new tires) would take all day, … Continue reading →

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Testosterone Poisoning

Posted on April 21, 2020 by John Swinburn

A friend, when describing the affliction whose symptoms are characterized by machismo, also known as extreme masculine hyper-sensitivity, uses the sobriquet “testosterone poisoning.” I think the term describes the infirmity quite nicely. Until I heard the phrase, I did not … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Leave a comment

Exhuming Memories

Posted on April 20, 2020 by John Swinburn

This morning, my creativity is at a low ebb. Instead of attempting to write something that would surely be hollow and dark, I’ll remember mornings when I felt more energy and more passion than I do at this moment by … Continue reading →

Posted in Memories | Leave a comment

Big Dreams and Facing Facts

Posted on April 19, 2020 by John Swinburn

Facts often block the way for wishes, desires, and dreams. Facts dig wide trenches between here and there…between now and then…filling the channels with acid and alligators and creatures hungry to tear hopes into lifeless memories. Those damn facts! Why … Continue reading →

Posted in Ideas, Justice, Philosophy | Leave a comment

December 29, 2019

Posted on April 18, 2020 by John Swinburn

I’ve decided to post some of my unposted items from months gone by. Sometimes, reading my words from times gone by helps me understand how I think; if that’s what it is. I will use my writing time today to … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Time | Leave a comment

Acknowledgement

Posted on April 17, 2020 by John Swinburn

Our society should reproach ourselves for failing to acknowledge that some of the lowest paid, least appreciated people are among the most indispensable. Until the COVID-19 pandemic, a long list of jobs and the people who fill them were treated, … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Employment, Food | Leave a comment

Lacking Credentials

Posted on April 16, 2020 by John Swinburn

Poetry fills an aching need within the poet to express emotions that cannot be expressed otherwise. And poetry enables poets and their audiences, whether readers or listeners, to establish intimate emotional bonds. Sometimes—more often than not, it seems—the words of … Continue reading →

Posted in Poetry, Writing | 2 Comments

Ethereal Normal

Posted on April 15, 2020 by John Swinburn

The concept of “normal” is fiction. There is no steady state that conveys a sense of normalcy. Normalcy can be understood only in a context of unending change. Chaos, in other words. The moment we think we have entered a … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy | Leave a comment

If Nothing Else (Say, Armed Insurrection), Buy Stamps

Posted on April 15, 2020 by John Swinburn

Until the psychopath in the White House has been removed, the chances of a recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic are slim. His vacillation between one set of false assertions and the next, his tendency toward chaotically churning lies, and his … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Talking to Myself

Posted on April 14, 2020 by John Swinburn

I have started, and in a few cases finished, several new posts over the last several days that have yet to be published. Even the “finished” posts, though, are incomplete. There is something about the words I have written or … Continue reading →

Posted in Writing | 1 Comment

Forty Years On

Posted on April 13, 2020 by John Swinburn

Today, my wife and I celebrate our fortieth anniversary. Celebrate may be too strong of a word; a celebration suggests more than a nice dinner at home. Yet that’s the plan. Because of the pestilence. But a nice dinner at … Continue reading →

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Mirror a Character

Posted on April 12, 2020 by John Swinburn

Ekstrom Noble. Lavender Bridge. Linoleum Price. Stricklin Barber. These people live beneath the dura mater, that outermost meningeal layer that that would protect my brain if my skull chose to abandon its role in that regard. Perhaps “live” is the … Continue reading →

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Insomnimania

Posted on April 11, 2020 by John Swinburn

Yesterday, I smoked a brisket, an eleven-plus pound beast that barely fit in the little electric smoker. In days gone by, I would have spent the entire day burning mesquite logs to heat the heavy steel firebox of an offset … Continue reading →

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A Stretch of Beach

Posted on April 9, 2020 by John Swinburn

A long stretch of desolate beach, barely visible in the budding sunrise. Miles of sand, unsullied by tire tracks or footprints. Early in the morning, before the heat of the day causes gusty winds, the stillness of the air is … Continue reading →

Posted in Just Thinking | 4 Comments

Scraps of Compassion

Posted on April 8, 2020 by John Swinburn

Death steals from us, leaving only shadows and memories. Those fragments of the past are wholly inadequate to replace the vibrancy lost to the endlessness of forever. John Prine died yesterday. I never saw John Prine in concert, but I … Continue reading →

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The Breaking Point

Posted on April 7, 2020 by John Swinburn

Finally, months after the fact, we had Thanksgiving dinner. Turkey, dressing, broccoli and rice casserole. But no cranberry sauce. No condiment tray. It was just the two of us, so pulling out all the stops would have been wasteful. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Stream of Consciousness | 1 Comment