In Memoriam David Michael Pain

David Michael Pain
August 10, 1941 – May 20, 2018

By Moristotle

I never met Mike Pain in person. I first heard of him in the early 2000’s in reading Jim Rix’s account of Ray Krone’s wrongful conviction for a December 1991 murder in Phoenix, Arizona, and Jim’s involvement in winning a new trial for Ray, for which Mike did extensive private investigation on Ray’s behalf. This week Jim remembers Mike as “a unique individual, very good at his profession, private investigation” [which he chose in 1975].

Chamomile (a poem)

Indy Week, March 27, 2002
[photo by Alex Maness]

By Ralph Earle

[First published in The Way the Rain Works (Sable Books, 2015) and republished here by permission of the author.]










Such elegant dry flowers, yellow-brown
and so delicate three years ago, when
I last tasted their good health. I hate
to let them go. I could tangle my mind

Interview with Sandi Dalton, on a long Christian journey

Interviewed by Moristotle

I was delighted to meet Sandi Dalton sometime last year when I visited Chef Benjamin Messaoui’s French Corner Bakery (in Durham, North Carolina). There she was behind the counter, greeting customers Bon jour! I was happy for Benjamin to have Sandi at the counter, and happy for Sandi to be countering in so fine a bakery. (Benjamin’s interview was published on April 15.)
    Over the course of many returns to Chef Benjamin’s bakery, I learned enough about his new assistant to want to learn more, and to realize that our readers deserved to know Sandi too. So, I asked her if she would be willing to answer some questions, which are included here in italics.

The Loneliest Liberal: Bon mots

By James Knudsen

Late May is that time of year when graduation fever is in the air. Caps, gowns, pomp, circuitous routes to a bachelor’s degree are all on the minds of parents and students alike. Having been a student until well into my mid-thirties, I can understand at least one side of this. More recently, I have become acquainted with the matter of financing education. Teaching at a community college, I have, on more than one occasion, had a student explain that their recent spate of absences was due to being homeless. And each semester I encourage students who are looking for a cause to take up the issue of textbook prices, because, make no mistake, it’s a racket. On the national level, the subject of college expensiveness has become a talking point for some. And on the very local level, for the fourth year, a Bon Mot Morris Knudsen Memorial Scholarship has been awarded.

Money will follow

By Victor L. Midyett

“Money is like the birds in a migrating flock. It will follow because it knows they know where they are going.” —Anonymous

A man from a city in England (in all likelihood George Mottershead^*) got lost looking for an address in the countryside where he might locate something he had been seeing in his dreams – a zoo without bars for distressed and unwanted animals.
    To check his map he stopped his car in front of the gate he had come to, and he noticed that it bore the sign: “Announcing Foreclosure Auction.” The large house beyond the gate looked empty and dilapidated, and it seemed to sit on several acres of land.

Sweater Weather (a poem)

By Ralph Earle

[First published in The Way the Rain Works (Sable Books, 2015) and republished here by permission of the author.]




She had a flair for choosing
clothes that made me look good but
that winter after she moved out

Leaked “Fox & Friends Access” tape reveals Trump’s proof that the mainstream media peddle “fake news”

Satire in the style of Andy Borowitz

By Moristotle

Donald Trump met with friends Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade at Fox on May 12 for a program on the lesser news media, particularly CNN, CBS, the NY Times, and the Washington Post. The show had been scheduled to air that weekend but was scratched after someone realized that Trump had divulged a secret that, if it became known, would enable the lesser media to wiggle away from his “fake news” label.

Love is the Only Entrance (a poem)

At Central Carolina Community College
Creative Writing Program, October 2015
[Ashley Memory: Exploring the Joys of Creative Writing]

By Ralph Earle

[First published in The Way the Rain Works (Sable Books, 2015) and republished here by permission of the author.]










We descend into the rocky womb-like cave
where Zeus’s mother kept him secret from
devouring gods until his time arrived.
Our guide gives us candles. Later
we discover Eleusis, of the mysteries,

Correspondence from around the world

Public toilets
near a bridge in Taito-ku, Tokyo

Edited by Moristotle

[Items of correspondence are not attributed; they remain anonymous. They have been chosen for their inherent interest as journalism, story, or provocative opinion, which may or may not be shared by the editor or other members of the staff of Moristotle & Co.]

When quirky isn’t inconvenient: “Quirky conveniences: the toilets of Tokyo – in pictures” [The Guardian, May 8]. Excerpt:

Poetry & Portraits: Sondheim

Drawing by Susan C. Price

Sondheim
By Eric Meub

[Originally published on August 13, 2016]

Has no one seen? Has no one yet been told
      a star is being born in me at last?
Who grouses I’m too old, that I’m a mold
      from which one character alone is cast?

Masonboro Inlet (a poem)

Photo of author in his book
The Way the Rain Works, Sable Books

By Ralph Earle

[First published in The Way the Rain Works (Sable Books, 2015) and republished here by permission of the author.]











The jetty starts in a barely perceptible
uplifting of sand and extends
stone by stone into a jagged hem
of breakers that undulate in the distance.

The reason snakes frighten us (a poem)

Inspired by Ralph Earle’s
“The Way the Rain Works”

By Moristotle





I’m not the only one digging in the earth this morning
My trowel unearths other diggers digging there
They wriggle, woken up or frightened
by the earth’s sudden movement.

Six Years Ago Today: Retired to turf-turding

By Moristotle

[Originally published on May 1, 2012, which means I’ve been retired a year longer than I was thinking I was. Time goes by quick when you’re having fun?]

Post-retirement employment wasn’t long to seek. My wife and I agree that May is our month to aerate our Bermuda grass lawn, and I started the job today, using my Hound Dog Coring Aerator¹, bought in anticipation months ago at Lowe’s Home Improvement, Mebane.

Cheap Sacred Wine (a poem)

By Ralph Earle

[First published in The Way the Rain Works (Sable Books, 2015) and republished here by permission of the author.]


Pale green, pear-shaped
half-gallon wine bottle
layered with different-
colored seeds—millet,