So what are these squibs you hear so much about? Ha ha, “you hear so much about”, I guess that means you’ve been reading what I’ve been writing. But seriously, folks, no big deal, just little flashes in the brain, as Beau would say, “It’s just a thought.” So here’s another one:

            I start the thoughts
            you’ll finish.

Not bad. Promising. Hope it’s true. Like this one:

                        see/saw
                        up down
                        up down
                        that’s history
                        for you

Of course you might say: so what? There’s nothing there, or not much there. But of course one dangerous thing about thoughts is that once you get started you might not quit. You might initiate the internal dialogue which says things like: that may be true about history, but does it have to be that way? Can’t we stay up? And how can we trust history to be true when we know who writes it? If we want to learn from it, how do we know where we are, what we’re dealing with? And why should I be doing your work for you? You can do it better.

Sometimes I just write down my own excuses. Like:

                        I should stop reading
                        because
                        I can’t escape the words.

Or cautions, like:

                                    when people know
                                    that I write down
                                    the things around me
                                    they sometimes zip up
                                    their opened selves
                                    protectively and I don’t
                                    blame them
                                    I would too

Easy to do, easy to say. But worth a squib. And while we’re on the subject, weren’t but are now, if anyone wants to take anything I’ve written and use it, please just ask me so I can say yes.