The act of
reading books –
of feeling weight,
texture; of
hearing a turning
page; the smell
of paper and
ink; the sight of
black type on
creamy white
paper. Eyes, and
hands, and knees,
and brain, working
together, to
recreate the
physical process
of writing the book.
Thoughts turned to
words on page
turned back
to thought.
But here, on
this kindle, words
flow effortlessly
across the screen
and into my brain.
Have I lost
something
or gained
something?
I had a
golden rule
which was
“Don’t apply
for another
job unless you
are invited to”.
But I seem to
always break
golden rules –
“Don’t read
the comments,
unless they are
your own”,
“Don’t contact
old friends
unless they contact
you first”.
You’d think I
would learn.
After you die
your first job
should be to
get your
obituary
written before
someone else
beats you to it
There are people
who get all their
ideas from the
unsupported
opinions of
others; have faith
in some religion;
vote fascists into
power; love guns;
don’t vaccinate
children; and hate
women.
Generally these
categories
overlap.
Writing my
autobiography
lets me rule
a line under
my past and
decide what
to do with
my life as
I approach
three quarters
of a century
Revolution
can never come
about by the
gentle
persuasion of
the ruling class
to give up the
benefits they
receive from
the current
system
Who would have
thought that a
major effect of
global warming
would be a
decrease in the
intelligence of
politicians?
There should be
a term limit set
on how long some
ancient, historical
grievance can be
used to justify
slaughtering
people today.
Reading the
life stories of
the famous
achievers of
the past and
present, you
reach a point
where they broke
through, became
recognised,
touched by
genius, ranked
among the
immortals of
literature, or
science, or
film, or art.
But my
breakthrough
moments
were papered
over, muffled,
erased from the
historic
photographs.
So I remain
disappointed
and unknown,
and largely
anonymous.
All over the
Universe, the small
number of sentient
species, in a
handful of
galaxies, have
given up hope
for the survival
of the almost
sentient species,
Homo sapiens,
which currently
lives on a small
planet, near a
small star, on the
outer reaches of the
Milky Way Galaxy.
