#547: The Art of the Lie

The Art of the Lie I am in full agreementthat John Grant is no namefor a rock star, and yet, he is, nevertheless, a rock star to me,and his most recent album, The Art of the Lie,has been in consistent, heavyrotation. I listened to it todayin the car as I drove to Pure LifeClinic forContinue reading “#547: The Art of the Lie”

#546: Étude for Not Writing a Poem

I don’t know what to say. I have never before, in the eleven previous years of participation in National Poetry Writing Month, experienced such intense internal resistance to writing a poem–ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH! I can’t explain it. Usually I am fired up and I jump out of the starting gate withContinue reading “#546: Étude for Not Writing a Poem”

Two Days Until National Poetry Writing Month: Ekphrastic Fest?

On this 30th day of March, we find ourselves only two days away from National Poetry Writing Month, during which we creative types are encouraged to compose a poem a day every day for the entire month of April. I can safely (but humbly) brag about the fact that I have completed this task ofContinue reading “Two Days Until National Poetry Writing Month: Ekphrastic Fest?”

On Finding a Routine

Embarrassment of riches: retired guy has enough time on his hands to do any thing he wants, has a list of such things at the ready, and yet, some of the things he wants to do he doesn’t do–or, more accurately, doesn’t do enough of to satisfy his own self-critical assessment of his productivity. HeContinue reading “On Finding a Routine”

On the Twenty-ninth Day of 2025…

…I discover that Jim in Percival Everett’s retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is fully literate. He’s read Voltaire, Rousseau, and Locke when he’s alone in Judge Thatcher’s library, and on Jacksons Island, after he gets bit by a rattlesnake, he has conversations with these literary and philosophical giants in fever-induced hallucinations, and isContinue reading “On the Twenty-ninth Day of 2025…”

On the Twenty-sixth Day of 2025…

…Outside of walking the dogs, I didn’t leave the house. I didn’t drive anywhere. I did very little. Meditated. Completed a few domestic chores. Communicated with my bandmates about rehearsals and rock and roll outfits. I set up a YouTube channel and vented my frustration into the ether. I took a nap. I made tacos.Continue reading “On the Twenty-sixth Day of 2025…”

On the Eighteenth Day of 2025…

…I have broken the record from January 2024 by writing eighteen days in a row toward the goal of blogging every day during the first month of the new year, attempting each day to string together a few hundred to a thousand words that form coherent sentences and ideas. I’ve tried to vary the shoeContinue reading “On the Eighteenth Day of 2025…”

On the Seventeenth Day of 2025…

…you get up early to meet some guy who’s going to give you a bid on a walk-in shower install. It’s awful. Friendly enough, nice to the dogs, the guy talks and talks, gives you his whole history, compliments your house, looks at the bathroom, takes a number of measurements with a fancy laser gadget,Continue reading “On the Seventeenth Day of 2025…”

On the Fifteenth Day of 2025…

. . .You decide to write about yourself in the second person. You realize that’s an odd thing to do, even though, as most things a writer can do, it’s been done before hundreds of times. You’re mostly curious about how it feels. You’ve tried the first and the third, the first being the mostContinue reading “On the Fifteenth Day of 2025…”

On the Eighth Day of 2025. . .

. . . while my friends in the east and the middle are freezing off their nards, and my Southern California friends are guarding against wildfires, here in the Pacific Northwest, during a miraculous dry spell of three straight days and counting, I worked in the yard today wearing a t-shirt. Today was one ofContinue reading “On the Eighth Day of 2025. . .”