Category Archives: Thoughts For the Day

There is a poet inside us, scratching and clawing to escape the shell—the artificial prison we have constructed inside our minds—we created to keep the beast constrained within. Let it out, else be content to see what we missed by viewing life from … Continue reading →

Poisons do not necessarily have physical properties.  They may be invisible, have no taste, and exist entirely in the mind of their user.  Their strength lies not in the user’s ability to deploy them, but in the victim’s willingness to let them … Continue reading →

If you allow an avocado to be an avocado, it will taste better than if you try to transform it into an apple.

Texture. Food has it. Bed sheets have it. The pavement on the road has it. My skin has it. I wondered whether water has texture. Based on my understanding of the term, and from my perspective, it seems that the surface … Continue reading →

The fact that our lives are subatomic in duration and scope in comparison to geologic time is immaterial.  Every life we touch during our short time on this planet is as important in our abbreviated time scale as is the creation … Continue reading →

This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. ~Advice given by Polonius to Laertes in ‘Hamlet’ William Shakespeare In the context … Continue reading →

Go far away from city lights and look at the dark sky on a clear night.   If you are not overwhelmed by it, you are not thinking deeply enough.  Try again.  And again.  And again. Eventually, the scale of the … Continue reading →

In my experience, kind and generous neighbors are rare.  I hate revealing that, but I think it’s true.  But when neighbors are kind and generous, they are the sort of rare neighbors who deserve accolades, appreciation, and acceptance. We had … Continue reading →

Pay sufficient attention and you will witness words fall out of favor.  This morning, just after the clock struck eight minutes after four, one such verb came to mind: saunter.  I suspect that word is on the way out.  Perhaps it … Continue reading →

Today is my oldest brother’s birthday, so my thought today is for him to have a very happy one. Coincidental to that thought, I’m of the opinion that drinking a glass of excellent Belgian style red ale can be a … Continue reading →

I have seen or read several of Athol Fugard’s plays (the South African writer), though I don’t recall which ones, except I know I saw “Master Harold”…and the boys on stage.  I liked that play, but I hated what it said about humanity.  … Continue reading →

On September 26, I wrote a screed on the subject of time, asking an absurd question as to whether it possesses any physical properties. Since I wrote it, I have continued to ruminate about physical properties of time. I conclude the passage … Continue reading →

A common refrain in advice to young people—and increasingly to retirees— is to “follow your passion.” I may have said it myself.  It seems like such wise, sound advice until the search for the passion begins.  “What IS my passion?”  … Continue reading →

There are a thousand ways to tell a story and a thousand ways to hear it told. I am reminded every day that each of us sees this world through a different lens. We hear different sounds, although we listen to the … Continue reading →

Be soft in your practice. Think of the method as a fine silvery stream, not a raging waterfall. It will go its own way, meandering here, trickling there. It will find the grooves, the cracks, the crevices. Just follow it. … Continue reading →

I sit here, this morning, remembering and regretting how I behaved.  It was long ago, but the recollection, and the results, are as clear as if it were yesterday.  It is impossible to un-live life’s moments. Good, decent people learn … Continue reading →

Who controls us is a question I cannot fully answer, not with any certainty. But I think how they control us is clear.  We are taught our roles are simply to consume what is provided to us and to accept decisions made for us.  Even … Continue reading →

Le jeu n’en vaut pas la chandelle. ‘The game is not worth the candle.’ The English translation is almost my trademark phrase…I’ve written about it frequently and I use it often.  It’s such an economical way to say the effort … Continue reading →

Faint sounds in the distance.  Whispers?  Dogs barking? Animals rustling through the underbrush? Birds shuffling through leaves of the trees, far enough above me to be invisible? If I devote my attention to sounds too distant or indistinct to hear clearly, my mind clears … Continue reading →

That incomplete kiss.  An unspoken longing.  The wish that never found words of expression. Memories and dreams that never merged into reality.  Those are the things of regret.  Those are the passions buried under what could have been, what should have been. … Continue reading →

Pieces of my life are missing.  Certain days give me pause to think about those missing pieces, and this is one of those days.  Today is my mother’s birthday. She is missing from my life.  So is my father and … Continue reading →

“Poetry became democratized,” the woman said, explaining to me her views of the development of poetry during the last two decades of the twentieth century. “What I love about contemporary poetry is its multitude of voices,” she continued, citing formalist poetry, … Continue reading →

Even the slightest breeze can move enormous trees.

There is nothing like being slugged in the gut with a bat made of mortality to make one understand how utterly priceless life and love really are.

Early is a relative term.  Its meaning is vastly different from one context to another.  As a qualifier in connection with “morning,” the word’s meaning is innocuous.  “Early Man,” on the other hand, carries more gravitas. But then, consider this. This … Continue reading →