I don’t know where I am / And I don’t know where I’m going / I reckon it don’t matter anyway / What factories are left here are mainly hiring Mexicans / I reckon that they’ll work without much pay. Years ago, it had been the site of a filling station. Then it was …
I Don’t Want To Bug You … But I Must
I think of “Bones” on Star Trek: “I’m a doctor, Jim, not a tour guide.” The age requires versatility, and I am sadly lacking, in general, but also where my books are concerned. Put me in front of an audience, and I am fine. I’m perfectly confident in my ability to talk about my novels, …
A Friendly Background
No afternoon baseball today. I pay to get all the games on TV, mainly because I love the Boston Red Sox and live in South Carolina, but I often use other teams’ games as a soothing background for writing, reading, playing guitar and sketching. I look up when I hear yelling, and then I watch …
Scuppernongs and Muscadines
Here's the whole shebang for those of you who haven't been following along. My daddy used to say / You gotta be a man / You gotta pull your weight / You gotta work the land / But every time I tried and failed / He turned away from me / By the time I …
Scuppernongs and Muscadines, Part Four (Final)
Now that I am old myself / It doesn’t seem so bad / Because sometimes simple rhymes / Are the only ones we have / I wouldn’t have name him Frank / But I never had a son / I sold my soul in different roles / Not to be outdone. One morning, five …
Continue reading Scuppernongs and Muscadines, Part Four (Final)
Scuppernongs and Muscadines, Part Three
When I left the farm / To make it on my own / He didn’t take it well / Sitting home alone / Without me to disagree / The bottle started to win / It burned a hole / Into his soul / And cancer filled it in. Alan Reuss’s understanding of what happened …
Scuppernongs and Muscadines, Part Two
Scuppernongs and muscadines / Bubble gum three for a dime / Orange Crush over ice / Sawmill gravy over rice / That’s the way / My world / Used to be. When Alan Reuss was a kid, a scuppernong vine stood at the edge of the front yard, just a few feet from the …
Excuse Me For Not Caring
I don’t care if the sun don’t shine / I don’t care if the bells don’t chime / Just as long as you love me. – Buck Owens Time is infinite, but mine isn’t. I just don’t have time to care about everything. Some things don’t amount to a hill of beans, or …
It’s Only Fiction (A Song)
Here are the lyrics to my latest song. I wrote most of it a couple months ago, but I wasn't particularly pleased with it until this morning, when I finally got around to dickering with the words again. My daddy was a drunkard but I didn’t write about him in my song I claimed …
Scuppernongs and Muscadines, Part One
My daddy used to say / You gotta be a man / You gotta pull your weight / You gotta work the land / But every time I tried and failed / He turned away from me / By the time I was a man / It was too late for him to see. …
Nightrider's Lament 