John's Dura Mater Blog

“While you have a thing it can be taken from you...  but when you give it, you have given it. No robber can take it from you.   It is yours then for ever when you have given it. It will be yours, always. That is to give.” - James Joyce

"I was brought up in the great tradition of the late 19th century or early part of this century that a writer never complains, never explains and never disdains.'' -James Michener, winner of the Pulitzer Prize four decades ago for ''Tales of the South Pacific'' 

"Halfway to work and Merriman already has told me What he thinks about the balanced budget, the Mets' Lack of starting pitching, the dangers of displaced Soviet nuclear engineers, soy products, and diesel cars. I look out the window and hope I'll see a swan. I hear they're bad-tempered but I love their necks And how they glide along so sovereignly. I never take the time to drive to a pond And spend an hour watching swans. What Would happen if I heeded the admonitions of beauty? When I look over at Merriman, he's telling Driscoll That the President doesn't know what he's doing With China. "China," I say out loud but softly. I go back to the window. It's started snowing." - "Opinion" by Baron Wormser from Subject Matter: Poems