I’ve made the acquaintance on another website of a woman who uses the pen name “Unbreakable” here on Open Salon.  I have never met her, but judging from her writing both here and at the other place, she appears an intelligent, witty, and temperate woman.

That impression was re… Read full post »

In the four months I’ve been a member of the Open Salon community, I have read some seriously good material; entries written on a skill level that exceeds that of any of the other writing communities I have been affiliated with. 

From the political commentary of many of those here,… Read full post »

Eighth Grade Existentialism

“Hey, Drake!  Hey, John-NEE!  Get over here—don’t run away from me!”

I was walking home from the New York Public Library branch on 23^rd Street, a warm spring breeze blowing off the East River into my face.  Just a block and/… Read full post »

Today is the final day of the North Carolina State Fair.  This is an annual exposition, first held in 1853 and continued every year save for the Civil War and Reconstruction years (1861-69), and the World War II period, 1942-45.

There’s something distinctly American about state fairs.&nbs… Read full post »

Lying in bed, alone, but not,

sheets knotted, choking cramped calves.

Train whistle’s whine wrinkles midnight silence;

owl’s mournful moan echoes a response.

A thousand miles, a million miles,

there is no difference:  you’re not here.

New moon, empty… Read full post »

Theophilus Hicks sat on the rickety porch of his ramshackle eight hundred square foot cabin in Sharpsburg, a small hamlet a few miles south of Rocky Mount, North Carolina.  Everyone calls him Theo, and he likes it just fine.  “Theo means ‘God’ in Greek.  Did yo… Read full post »

I had the good fortune to attend La Salle Military Academy in Oakdale, Long Island, New York for all four years of my high school education.  The school was located on the thousand-acre former summer estate of Commodore Frederick Gilbert Bourne, of the Singer sewing/… Read full post »

I’m blessed to have as a friend a talented poet and classical musician and teacher by the name of Alfred.  He’s an expat American living in a Paris suburb, and he writes fairly prolifically on another website (follow the link at left marked “Scattered leaves with poetic imprint… Read full post »

“Systematically, we insist on the occasional nature of death – accidents, illnesses, infections, advanced age - revealing in this way our deep desire to deprive from death all its necessary elements, thus making it become just an accidental event.”

-- Sigmund Freud

Kenneth… Read full post »

Over the weekend, my good friend Torman posted an entry about recently coming to the aid of a woman in distress.  It made me recall my own experience in that regard thirty-five years ago…

It could have been a dream.  I had just gone to bed a half-hour earlier. … Read full post »

For almost a hundred years a monster lurked on Merthyr Mountain in South Wales in the United Kingdom.  It brooded, looking directly down on the small mining town of Aberfan.

And it grew.

From 1875, the Merthyr Vale Colliery extracted coal from Merthyr Mountain.  Spoil from the mining… Read full post »

We’re Older Now

We’re older now

things are different

when we make love

seeing silhouettes on the wall

two youthful bedroom athletes

locked in Silkworm Spinning a Cocoon

Position, perspiration permeating pores

turgid thrusting, frantic fumbling, crashin… Read full post »

Last Thursday I had a routine appointment with my retina specialist in Raleigh.  (Everything checked out fine—thanks for asking!) While he was reviewing the laser photos of my eyes and shining his light in them, I decided to turn the tables on him.

“So, Doc,” I asked, “h… Read full post »

Curtis Brown literary agent Nathan Bransford maintains a very helpful and informative blog for avid readers, neophyte writers, and just plain folks who are interested in the world of book publishing.  Nathan is very entertaining, and his blog is a must-read; you never know what you&rsq… Read full post »

Watching Leonard Cohen’s Concert from Earls Court, London on PBS

Suzanne takes you down

to a place by the river

touch her with your mind

He stands on the stage, band off to the side, leaving him by himself.  He is rumpled.  He/… Read full post »

It was a glorious afternoon for a round of golf last Friday.  The temperature was in the low eighties, a light breeze wafted through the pine trees of the Raleigh Country Club, and the handful of clouds seemed painted against the Carolina blue skies.  For Ray Cook, life was good.… Read full post »

It’s September—it has to be:

the calendar on the wall, the one you like

with pastoral photos of the Irish

countryside on every page,

says so.

But walk outside to the low growl of

air-conditioning units and see

children running in shorts… Read full post »

she came to me again last night

like a lover under cover of darkness,

a succubus threatening to consume my

essence, body and soul.

she nibbles at my toe,

at first playfully, the teasing of

a skillful courtesan practiced

in the arts of seduction,… Read full post »

I had to take my car to the dealership for service.

Today in the Heart of Carolina it’s the type of day that gives autumn a bad name.  Leaden clouds suspended in pewter skies blot out the eye’s memory of the colors blue, and yellow.  Late-term pregnant rain drops belie… Read full post »

By December of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln had had quite enough. 

South Carolina’s secession from the Union, the proximate cause of the current troubles, had taken place two years earlier.  Since then, events had gone from bad to worse.  The campaign in July of the previous… Read full post »

Asheville, North Carolina is unexpected.  Asheville is… different.

I recently returned from a week in the Blue Ridge Mountains of my adopted home state.  I’d been to Asheville before, but usually as a waystation to or from somewhere else.  This time, I got to probe deeper… Read full post »

“Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin boarding American Airlines Flight 2411 nonstop from Dallas-Fort Worth to Los Angeles International.  At this time, we’d like to invite our first-class section passengers and our AAdvantage Gold and Platinum members to board the aircraft.&rdquo… Read full post »

Tucked away in the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County, California, is the small town of Solvang.  Its scenic setting amidst gently rolling hills and pastures, and its proximity to some of the best vineyards in the state (it was the location for much of the film Sideways) are only… Read full post »

A friend of mine, a gentle and inspiring soul named SummerLyn, maintains a blog on another site in which she records her thoughts on spirituality in everyday life along with observations of nature from her home in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  They’re short, simple, and sweet entries f… Read full post »

To many outsiders, Florida is two islands of glittering non-reality connected by the asphalt ribbon of The Florida Turnpike.  In the north, there’s the improbable agglomeration of theme palaces, hotels, and entertainment meccas known as Orlando; in the south, the art-deco glamour of Miami&… Read full post »