Thoughts Out of Season

This book is about many things, things like politics, war, society, history, power, and even love. But most of all it is about what it means to be human in a deeply troubled world. You may think this is too ambitious a goal for such a little book. And you may be right. But then again, what goal was ever achieved without reaching for it? Besides, in this age of giant fart storms what harm can there be in having a little book burst a few bubbles? So my friend, I invite you to join Don Quixote and I in our quest for the truth. Who knows? You may even find some truths of your own. Part I - The World: Lacking coherence - that balance that gives weight to the meaning of things - the world forces us to go deeper into the meaning of things or risk becoming labels in the shallow waters of discord. Part II - America: America is adrift in a sea of euphemisms. Ambiguities cloud the agenda, and answers multiply like rabbits. Solving this riddle won't be easy, but it has to begin with a language that resonates more than it agitates. Part III - Life: What has happened to the meaning of life? Is it nothing more than a time-clock that keeps ticking away until our shelf-life expires? Of course not - don't be silly - only our minds fell asleep. So welcome back my friend to the gauntlet of life. Part IV - Three Miscellaneous Pieces: These poems are meant for everyone. Let the poems speak for themselves and you will find in them the simple images that contemplate the innumerable pleasures of life. Having been born in a rooming house in Detroit in 1937, it was no wonder that I would learn that life could be equally beautiful or equally horrible. A contradiction that created in me an insatiable desire to learn more about the world around me. So I became a social worker - something that put me directly in the line of fire of what it meant to be human. Then came the family - that journey of unfathomable problems and exorbitant beauty. Finally, there is you my dear reader, who is at the end of dreams and the beginning of reality.