I am possessed…

…by the spirit of George Lucas; doomed to walk the Earth,forever modifying my finished work; peppering it with shock-waves; dusting it with tiny robots that; buzz around from place to place.  Perhaps I should consider sitting on the more complicated sonnets for a few days before posting them?

Naw….

This one sat around…

as a draft for a few weeks, until I got up the nerve to once again take it on.   There were no lines, just a few groups of notes I jotted down quickly on my way from one task to another.  Just before I did that, I had been contemplating, or daydreaming, or musing upon how those who claim to stand for freedom and equality, permit these travesties to take place, and even condone them.  Even act as their apologists.  I suspect I will never understand or be fully able to fathom this.

Despair:

It can be embarrassing, when looking, in fall or winter, back to spring.  This latest sonnet, and its introduction, could have been written as late as December of 1990, but may have been written earlier.

My good friend Jon taught me a valuable thing:  That how we felt is how we felt.  Knowing this–internalizing it–I feel less embarrassment for my former self, and more empathy.  Continue reading

Imagine that:

Thirty-four beats for my haiku fetishist ways.    Exactly  Perfect!

I could not think of a better introduction to today’s sonnet.  Attributed to George Orwell,  Rudyard Kipling, or Winston Churchill.  But in truth, it seems this gem was uttered by the great Winston Churchill.

The sonnet that follows, is from a discussion that I had with a good friend–one of those rough men who stand ready to protect us all.  He’s made a promise, unlike any other job, that he cannot break.

No Guarantees:

I cannot guarantee, when these sonnets go up  on their appointed dates, that I will refrain from lucasing them.  At least for a week, after several nights’ sleep, I may revisit them.

The fact is, I tend to see grammatical elements which will create cohesion and consistency after I sleep a few nights.  In the same way, I see words that eluded me a day or two or three before:  the better or missing internal rhyme:  the proper word which expresses a concept more directly or accurately; the proper punctuation which I had missed; although I’d gone over and over my words before the first publication.  Lovely thing, the digital age.  Just ask George Lucas!   Seriously though, technology is wonderful just as long as you don’t go all George Lucas on everything you create.