What’s the point of having countless books and libraries, whose titles could hardly be read through in a lifetime. The learner is not taught, but burdened by the sheer volume, and it’s better to plant

Every man I meet is my master in some point, and in that I learn of him. --EMERSON I remember an inside joke with my over-achiever friends in high school where we would place three fingers on our forehead

You shouldn’t give circumstances the power to rouse anger, for they don’t care at all. —MARCUS AURELIUS, MEDITATIONS I remember as a kid riding the bus to school wondering how everyone around me was so

Don’t set your mind on things you don’t possess as if they were yours, but count the blessings you actually possess and think how much you would desire them if they weren’t already yours. But watch yourself,

Silent summer night Stepped-on toe, anger rising No one ready for sleep

The summer solstice Children not ready for sleep Waiting for darkness!

Moonless summer night Bees hanging on the front porch Fanning the hive cool!

Summer at sunset: Pizza delivery cars And bees make their rounds

Cool summer evening Crickets echo into the trees A leaf is set free.

the windy clouds flying right to left over the deserted parking lot

a gust of wind -- the felled sycamore, white bones in a brown forest

Office break for lunch Buildings rise above the trees On a shaded bench

Clouds are rolling in Heart beats coming faster now Mistakes all around

Still morning air A flock squawks into silence Dog has the white one

Leaves give way to the morning sun under the weight of dew.

The old garden hose Stretches the length of the yard Well pump is broken

A dead chicken’s corpse Bigger than the hole I dug I force the square peg

How good are good times Drinking, Dancing, Lovemaking Clouds darken the sky

Sitting in the shade The sunset falls into the Corner of my eye

promising sunrise... a shadow in the kitchen... "We need to talk."