A.G.E's Joint

The call came. The one I knew would. The confirmation Of your admission To the Dead Poet's Society. Denali Glacier now Contains your ashes. The bitter Alaska winds Brush your hair. Running away From your past, Your family, Your life, Never looking back. And for what? You weren't the Colossus. You didn't build a Pyramid. You went to discover those things And maybe yourself. And we have been left To wonder why We were left Behind. 

Inclination lacking, Decline in daily tracking, Affecting what there is of My resolve. Enamored With my best intentions, Gathered and spent, Seems my get up and go Has got up and went. Employment Gone, Hang on Let me get my bearings. Is it day or night? I really cant tell, And my kids are Following in my Footsteps. Confusion Infusion, Head is spinning, Hair is thinning, Life is marching on. I sit here in my sadness And like the Hatter in his madness, I contemplate what's really going on A life is gone, replaced by one, My heart is torn in two. This life around me crumbles With magnitude that humbles. Sour stomach rumbles, Mumbled resolutions, crumble. Like the dreams of Daedalus, Asking Alice, strikes of malice, As the chalice, once brimmed With hope and promise, Stings my bone-dry kiss. Sunburned wings hiss, And melt with schemes amiss, No longer flying, I tumble. Icarus, in flaming bliss, a stumble, A fiddle learned, a passi...

Hey, Heidy and Howdy!  I am your intrepid DJ, Harry Handy coming to you live from "Catch a Falling Star."  The night club for the has beens and never weres. The club is serving something called a "Ben Gay" at half price.  The bartender won't tell me what's in it.  As always, this Old Farts program is brought to you by Ensure, nutrition when nothing tastes good; and by Eggo Waffles, providing breakfast for good ol' Harry for two generations.  We are here, as always,  to celebrate our past, for better or worse. (In the case of my second marriage, much worse) A lot has been said for bands from the '60's, '70's and '80's that continue to tour long past their prime.  How a lot of them are but shadow's of their former selves.  One of those great band is Lynyrd Skynyrd.  The unluckiest band in the business.  Thirty five years ago, the band literally went up in smoke and the ashes have been performing ever since.  Anyway, here is ...

The cobwebs moved like puppets on a string.   In the 50 years she lived here, Ellie couldn’t remember when the wind cut so.   Pulling the caftan tight, she stood and looked at the blizzard of falling oak and hickory leaves.   Stoking the small fire in the stove, she sat in the hard chair.   She never liked cushions.   They made you soft and that was something you couldn’t be out here.   Weakness was punished in the woods.   He taught her that.    Silver liquid twinkled in the jar in front of her, begging to be used.   It was a gift from a neighbor a long time ago, back when there were neighbors.   Mother’s warnings drifted into her consciousness.   Bright blue horses of Armageddon would come. They would travel over the hill and far away, destroying all in their path.   It didn’t matter anymore.   With a faraway look, she took a slug of the moonshine and waited for the warmth to take her.   She took t...

I am a sporadic dream journal-er. If I can remember a particularly vivid or scary dream I try to write it down on that night .  I know I miss details, but it is entertaining and enlightening.  And it occasionally gives me story ideas.  I sometimes wish my life were like the dreams and perhaps it is like that.  A dream and a fear .    Here is an example: I find myself on a road trip, apparently to Greensboro, NC.   But the terrain doesn't match.   It is more like about 75 miles west, like in Hickory or Mount Airy.   The couple I am visiting seems nice enough. Kathryn and I exchange small talk.   Soon, I am in back of the house, climbing a granite outcrop.   It isn't a hard climb.   When I get to the top, there is a trail.   I follow it back aways, then double back to the house. Inside the ladies are talking.  My wife claims to dislike gossip, but she is always there to enjoy it. I am soon in my car running...

“Ah, there you are.   I didn’t think you’d come today.   It does an old man good to see young people now and again. When you are the oldest sailor on the dock, you never know if you’ll get another chance.   You did bring the beer?   Good. ” “Your mother well, I trust?   You know her and I go back many years.   When I first met her, she was about your age and I was still bit older.   I was working down on the docks and she was a waitress in a diner.   I’d get off and have a bit of supper.   I didn’t have a girl then.   I had lost mine to fever a few years earlier" “Anyway, your mother would serve up me up stew and beer.   I always wanted to ask her out, but never could get up the nerve.    She was a pretty one, back then.   Then I caught mate’s position on a steamer and left town for a while.   It was about a year and half later I was back.   By then she had left the diner and gotten mar...