For Gabriel García Márquez, upon learning he has Alzheimer's

This is a pen,
you use it
to write words
and tell stories

This is paper,
upon which you write
those stories

This is a novel,
you read it
to gain insight
into the magical loneliness
of existence

This is a poem,
you read it
every day
to understand
that someone
appreciated
your creations,
and to remind yourself
of your great contributions
to literature


-Jim DuBois
Dec 11, 2013

Gabriel García Márquez has Alzheimer's - the Guardian

Intellectual in a tea house in Northampton

Intellectual in a tea house
in Northampton,
reading Langston Hughes
and Diane Wakoski
paying too much
for tea
and a seat in the window
so all the holiday shoppers
can see how cool I am


-Jim DuBois
Nov 23, 2013

Is Your Shadow Part of You?

Is your shadow part of you?
Is a scar part of you?
Is your hair part of you?

Is the air in your lungs part of you?
Is the water in your bowels part of you?
Is the living blood carried away by a mosquito part of you?

Are the photons emitted and absorbed by your skin part of you?
Are mitochondria part of you?
Are the bacterial colonies which inhabit your body part of you?

Is your child part of you?
Is your family part of you?

Are your memories part of you?
Are thoughts part of you?

Is the way you move part of you?
Is the sound of your voice part of you?

Are your fingernails part of you?

Is yesterday part of you?
Is what you might do part of you?


-Jim DuBois
Nov 4, 2013

Zen Blackout #3

-Jim DuBois
Oct 2013

Zen Blackout #2 - The Original Ancestors

-Jim DuBois
Oct, 2013

Zen Blackout #1

-Jim DuBois
October, 2013

Done Anything Good

I don't know
if you've ever
done anything good,
but I have,
or so they tell me.
It always seems
that my memories
of doing good
fade so quickly.
I can't quite
grasp them.
I probably can't quite
understand who I
actually am.
My self image
is out of line
with reality,
but I've decided
to go on this quest
for the truth
about myself,
to try and remember
the good things,
to commemorate
and celebrate
the things I've done
and if one of those
fleeting memories
comes back
for a moment,
I must grasp on,
and write it down,
to get a better picture
of what my life
has really been.


-Jim DuBois
Sep 12, 2013