write for a little while, old school, with a pencil

Moon at Magome by Hasui Kawase

When I die I hope it’s during the day. I don’t believe there is anything after this life, just nonexistence. That’s why I would like the light to be the last thing I see. And maybe someone there to smile at me. 

james lee jobe 

Who can color a corpse around the wrist and call it blessed?

Patti Smith 

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Jon Batiste, DON'T STOP

Decades now in The Big Valley 

Flat land 

Rich soil 

Farms and walnut groves 

Fields of sunflowers and tomatoes 

And one poor old poet 

Here 

Where every sunrise and sunset 

Is blessed and holy 

A joy everyday 

james lee jobe 

Writing is a kind of revenge against circumstance too: bad luck, loss, pain. If you make something out of it, then you've no longer been bested by these events.  

Louise Glück

After dinner I put on some music and wash the dishes. Jazz or blues or old R&B usually. Maybe some real country. That done, I settle down in a room that is stone quiet and write for a little while, old school, with a pencil. I like first drafts to be in pencil, longhand, so I can feel the words leave me. Maybe a poem, or a prose poem, or even just some random thoughts. This calms me. Just an old man wrapping up the day. 

james lee jobe 

The future never arrives. Sit quietly and observe the future continuously not arriving, moment by moment. No matter how long you wait it’ll never get here.

Bad Warner 

Kenneth Patchen 

The sky knows that it is Spring, hears the call, and answers in appropriate tones of blue. The clouds are absent from role call, and so is the wind. All is still. Below, on the face of The Big Valley, green dominates all like a benevolent ruler, a kind queen perhaps, gracious. One can hear birds singing their happiness from the foliage and canopy, expressing their happiness for anyone with hearing to enjoy. Squirrels play, even dogs seem to be in good spirits today. It is now six years since my son died, and I still carry that weight. 

james lee jobe 

It is not impermanence that makes us suffer. What makes us suffer is wanting things to be permanent when they are not.

Thich Nhat Hanh 

Maybe we're all just here to learn something; does that make any sense? It could be we're all heroes just for being here, living.

james lee jobe 

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james