Have you ever read the ingredients for Lay’s potato chips? Just in case you haven’t, the ingredients are potatoes, salt, and oil. And with only three ingredients, just like their commercial used to say…I don’t think anyone can eat just one. In the initial summer weeks after I graduated high school I was spending time figuring out what I was … The rest of the story…
Just because I might consider myself a whimsical writer doesn’t mean I’ve always had a carefree life. Look closely at the picture and see the pencil-printed words I wrote during a battle with a broken heart. Ah youth… I spent a year and half in Houston, Texas learning carpentry skills from a master carpenter. I still use those skills on … The rest of the story…
There have been people in my life who have truly fooled me. Not many, but some. Sometimes, all it takes to write something whimsical…something not very self-explanatory…is a negative experience. I think many of those kinds of experiences helped turn me into a whimsical writer. It may be a bit like so many comedians who attribute their sense of humor … The rest of the story…
I remember seeing an album cover…yes, I said album cover…back in the early seventies where the singer was sitting on a beach. And it looked like he was finger painting in the sand. The colors, the setting, the whole arrangement inspired a short poem. Way back in 1973 that’s all it took for me to open up a spiral notebook … The rest of the story…
What do you think of when you hear the expression “standing on the brink?” Maybe you know that the definition of “brink” is either the extreme edge of land typically just before a steep incline or cliff or on the verge of something. Typically disaster. I’ll bet you’re not reading this on the brink of a cliff… Not literally anyway. … The rest of the story…
Today I’m gonna do something I haven’t done in over 40 years. I’m gonna share the lyrics to the very first song I ever wrote. Ironically it’s a song with no name. And I only noticed that omission this very evening. How odd is that? I remember an chilly winter evening at a friend’s house in Pasadena, Texas. There was … The rest of the story…
Life is calling. It wants you…it needs you wide awake. Be clear-headed, vigilant, and ready. Stop living in a dream. It’s OK to dream. If it wasn’t, I sure would have wasted a lot of time writing all those lullaby songs for kids. In fact, I suggest you dream big. But don’t spend your life living in a dream. Reality … The rest of the story…
Down the river there’s a ripple and a wake That doesn’t seem to end like it does in a lake. It doesn’t need a storm or a deep earthquake To shimmer and shudder and shiver and shake. Down the river there’s a mile-high sky That changes real fast as the rocks roll by. It doesn’t share a smile or a … The rest of the story…
I know you’ve heard love is patient. You’ve probably heard all those other descriptions like love is kind love is blind love is true love is blue But have you ever heard that love is snow? One day, as I sat in my college dormitory room in Manhattan, Kansas…I looked out the window and saw feathery, floating flakes of snow. … The rest of the story…
I remember an ongoing study, in a high school English class, on the implications, metaphors, and similes found in John Keats’ poem, “Ode On A Grecian Urn“. It wasn’t a simple class on which words rhymed and which did not. And I remember my fertile, young poet’s mind wanted to peer behind statues and doors for the hidden meanings. If … The rest of the story…
From the time I became a Christian, when I was 13, I’ve had a vision of salvation as being like crystal. What I mean by that is the clarity…the clear, clean, crystal eternal life promised to me by God. When I was closing in on 20, I even wrote a song about it called “Sparkling Salvation”. I didn’t do a … The rest of the story…
One of the most beautiful and poetic lights in the sky is the crescent moon. Often written about…used as a logo…a symbol of different meanings to different peoples, it’s technically is just the sliver of light we see on the moon as it goes through a certain monthly phase. So, the crescent moon is just a phase. But don’t try … The rest of the story…
Do you have any sad regrets? If you’ve only lived into your teens so far, of course you’ve had sad regrets…and just about any other kind of regrets there are. Am I right? (imagine that question with a strong Greek accent) 🙂 I’ve been a singer and a musician all my life…at least for the time I can remember. Music … The rest of the story…
As I sit here this morning, looking at the yellowing paper in my old spiral notebook, it’s hard to believe it’s been almost 40 years since I wrote these “Forever Gone” lyrics. Yet, there it is in my very own handwritten print and cursive letters: 5/9/74. No biggie…well, sort of a biggie…but having over 40 years of poems, stories, lyrics, … The rest of the story…
When I was a young, aspiring writer and poet, I wrote many verses and stories ripe with open, seemingly vague implications, unspoken intimations, and underlying innuendos. I wrote that way to elicit responses and ideas from readers. It worked very well. Each new person who read the words told me what it meant…and each new person’s rendition was always at … The rest of the story…
As a kid, I had a vivid imagination, and I loved to spend time in my own little world of make believe. I don’t think that makes me unique at all. I’m sure just about every kid enjoys conjuring up images of flying ponies or personal rocket ships or invisible friends. It’s good to have an imagination. You’ve probably heard … The rest of the story…
When we ride our high horses, we often have much further to fall. Before I go on let me ask you this: Have you ever heard that expression…high horses? I remember my elders saying things like that when I was a kid. You better get down off your high horse young man…before you get your comeuppance. There’s another one, comeuppance. … The rest of the story…
There’s the unknown road, the unknown composer, and most famously, the unknown soldier. We humans seem to like our mysteries. Alfred Hitchcock proved that. There have been times in my writing life where I assumed the role of a character in something I read…or I decided to speak for a particular voiceless character in a painting…or I mixed some different … The rest of the story…
Once upon a time back in 1981 I found a guy who was a whole lot like me. He was living in the lyrics to a song. It was a song I had just written. It was one of those songs I sometimes write by just letting words flow out to a background rhythm. As the words begin to flow … The rest of the story…
In America…and especially in the south…there’s an expression we use to describe a trend or fad that’s really catching on. We say something like “yeah, there’s one on every corner”. It just means you can find it anywhere. Back in the 80’s I was living in the Houston, Texas area, and there was a big urban cowboy phenomenon. It seemed … The rest of the story…
