Category Archives: In my words

Keep on the Sunny Side

… In the 1950s and early 60s growing up in Lebanon County, PA, there was a program on the local radio station, WLBR, at 5 in the afternoon called “The Jack Hains Show,” which featured Jack Hains who manufactured and … Continue reading →

Asked My Love (Someday)

22 Nov ’24

… I was looking through stuff and discovered this video which I had forgotten. I recorded it in 2016 and I guess one thing led to another, other things became more important until it just wasn’t there. Here it is … Continue reading →

A walk and some thoughts in a September woods

12 Sep ’24

Written September the 9th, 2015 with the accompanying photos taken along the way. Walking in the woods today I remembered back in the 1950s when my grandfather’s cousin Charles from Philadelphia would come to visit. It was a … Continue reading →

Come Here, Roberta

28 Aug ’24

“Come Here, Roberta” is one of the beautiful songs. I first heard Leadbelly singing it when I was a teenager, and I’ve changed a few of the words in passing it along. The words Old Time Used-to-be are mournful and … Continue reading →

Two Floors in August

25 Aug ’24

… Mountain floor, city floor. What grows and where it grows is interesting and has to do with time and place and what you see and what you don’t. Look. Epiphanies are like those snakes that could have bitten you. … Continue reading →

Honest Injun

23 Jun ’24

… I recently discovered this in the blog archives—I felt uncomfortable publishing it almost a decade ago, but I am publishing it now. May 9, 2016 I am writing to a poet friend. I wanted her to know that … Continue reading →

Home Again

30 Sep ’23

… September 30 When I get off the L Train at First Avenue, I usually take the Avenue A exit which is closer to home, but I had to stop at the post office and CVS so I got off … Continue reading →

At the Hampton Inn in Boca Raton

30 Sep ’23

September 8 The elevator isn’t working; we have a first floor room with a view of the pool. I’ll get to practice my awful French with the Haitian staff, me and Google Translate. J’ai encore sommeil. J’ai besoin d’une serviette … Continue reading →

Janis and Me

27 Jun ’23

… I got a fan letter from Janis Joplin once about a decade after her death. How is this possible? Her friend and lover, Linda Waldron, whom I knew through my friend Patti, was a psychic and sometimes, especially … Continue reading →

April Blossoms 2013 (remembering the Boston Marathon Bombing)

9 Apr ’23

… Friday I walked through Central Park with two old friends. We began on 96th Street and walked along the stream and little lakes on our way to the Conservatory Garden. There was a slight drizzle for about twenty minutes, … Continue reading →

Fame

12 Mar ’23

On Valentine’s Day, I handed out my haiku postcard to my High Beginner ESL class at LaGuardia Community College. I had been teaching the class since October, and this being the second semester, some new students were added. Jing Yi, … Continue reading →

On Sketches by Matisse

26 Feb ’23

When I was eighteen, I saw a film of Matisse sketching his grandson. He did sketch after sketch, each time simpler. The portrait never became abstract, it simply became a face with fewer and fewer lines needed to give … Continue reading →