DAVID E. HOWERTON

I'm a part time programmer and live in the American River Canyon outside of Auburn Ca. I’ve done some landscaping sign painting cooking and made jewelry to pay the bills. I live a rather quiet life. My wife and I live with a cat who's bossy. I have three adult daughters and one granddaughter. My hobbies include type design, soapstone carving, walks in the woods, collecting dragons and a growing library of Science Fiction books.

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DIGGING THROUGH DISCOUNT TABLES

Crawling in mind
scraping at mental
dust
find a memory.
Last Friday
spent morning
looking through
discount books;
going through
overloaded tables
maybe this time
a book will be found
I've been
looking
for,
for to long.

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GOING FOR A WALK

Opened a way
found a place
to go inside
to retreat
when
off on walks
in canyon.
Walking quickly
and as pain gathers
in legs
stop
a minute or two.
Go on
only a kilometer
to trail end.
Then climb down rocks
a hundred feet
to river's edge
pull shoes off
soak feet ten or fifteen
minutes
then with shoes back on
it's time to return
where the car was left.

passing getting up to talk

cancelled a talk
didn't want to read.
Most of those
that showed up
didn't have a clue
wouldn't understand
what was put on these pages.
whining about words
used
not hearing message
lost in the obscenity
of a closed mind.
Finding one or two
who may reach beyond
their shallow minds
is getting hard.

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POKING FUN AT YOU

Touching sores
peeling
scabs
these are
fun.
Kind of
shocking
but not
threatening,
keeps
squeamish
away.

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SMALL NAMELESS CREEK

Stinking here where alone sit
watching words fill a screen.
Stop a moment stare through space
find a day dream a minute an hour
then back to the screen
until it feels finished.

Then off into woods all second growth
where a small creek parts ridges
on its way through canyon
to American river past bulldozed houses
and collapsed narrow gauge
through house sized boulders
under dogwoods to a spot hidden
in leaves
it joins the river.
Another page of words complete
places of water where does drink
turkeys wandering through scrub growth
nibbling at black berry and olives.