This morning, when the high school friend texted, “Hey matt” I knew word of my friend Tim’s passing had gotten out. Tim’s wife had shared a short note and a few pictures on Facebook. Then came a group text through Facebook messenger. Then another friend from high school texted and eventually called. My daughter saw…
Category: Life
Gutted
A piece of my grainy, sepia-toned, scraped knees, and grass-stained childhood died today (June 6, 2024). One of my best friends, Tim (he’s on the right and I’m on the left) passed away this morning. I saw the missed call from his wife (I was brushing my teeth). I went back to the bathroom. I…
Digital Curmudgeon
It’s hard not to feel as though our digital worlds are going to complete shit. A week or two ago, I tried to buy concert tickets through Ticketmaster. I selected my seats – reasonably good seats for $100/per ticket for a show I’d really like to see (Michael Kiwanuka). When I clicked purchase, I got…
Frivolous Pursuits?
It’s 8am. I woke up early. I’ve already finished reading a chapbook of poetry. I’ve already written three or four poems. This is a nice change of pace. Mentally, my wheels are spinning as I’m contemplating my tastes in and talent for poetry. What makes a poem good, or at least good to me? The…
A Cloak of Misery
It wasn’t that he liked being miserable.
He simply had grown used to wearing
a certain face, become comfortable
with his assortment of shrugs and sighs.
“His Music” – Stephen Dunn
It’s been a mixed few days…
A Touch of Euphoria
Near the end of my evening walk, I detour to the “corner bar” that sits in the middle of the block. When I come home, I want to love everyone and everything. I’m stealing that sentiment from the title of a poem “I Come Home Wanting to Touch Everyone” Of course, I come home to…
Stop Following Me
Not long ago, I logged into my healthcare account to see what I needed to do to get a routine check up, an eye exam, and maybe start the process of getting my shoulder looked at. I’ve been putting these things off. Being the optimist that I am, I had expected to be employed by…
Making It Up As I Go
In my more writerly or creative moods, lots of different things serve as jumping off points for mental exploration. Among the things I’d like to get better at are: turning narrative into poetry, and allowing myself the freedom to play more frequently with words, stories, fact, and fiction. This morning I read the poem “At…
When the Morning Fog Is More than Morning Fog
It’s Monday morning. It’s gray. Even though it’s only mid-May, I might be getting a taste of San Francisco’s famous June gloom. The fog, Karl, has made his presence felt these past few days. On Saturday, on a ferry ride from Tiburon, the fog could be seen pouring over the hills on Angel Island. It…
Make ’em Cry
I recently watched a TikTok video that one of my Facebook friends had shared. I trust this person because they share good poems and feel-good stories as well as the occasional lefty power-to-the-people sort of stuff. The TikTok video contained snippets from a documentary Educating Yorkshire mixed together with viewer reactions to the documentary. The…
Shaking a Fist at the Billionaire Technocrat Class
I worry about American democracy. I worry about our continuing slide towards greater and greater inequality, oligarchy, plutocracy, and fascism. I worry about the climate crisis. I worry about my personal prospects for things like a reasonable retirement and long-term financial stability – or housing or healthcare, or any host of issues that are plaguing…
May 4th Ramblings
I wrote a note on my phone at 3:30 am. I initially woke up at around 2am (a touch of heartburn from a late-for-me dinner of tacos with more jalapenos than I needed and a slice of frozen pizza). I clearly live a very unsupervised life. When I woke at 2, the sound of the…