Admission
8 a.m. in the front lobby of the Catholic hospital. It doesn’t matter which one. An old man, alone, stands before the admissions counter. He has that bewildered look of the recently arrived immigrant...
John P. O'Grady Blog
“Please Continue”
Let me tell you a story. A student once asked Suzuki Roshi: “Can you reduce Buddhism to one phrase?” He replied: “Everything changes.” Some years ago I acquired a copy of Philip Whalen’s book...
In Case of Loss
I bought a fancy notebook for my trip to Alaska. I needed someplace to lodge my sloppy handwriting. Not to mention my sloppy thoughts. Inside the front cover are some blank lines. Above the...
His Name Means “Riches”
Last night, in a dream, I journeyed to the Realm of Pluto, where “all the secrets of time and nature” were revealed. I took a lot of photos, but only this one came out.
The Scene of Reading
For all the times I’ve read Moby Dick, I remember next to nothing about what happens in the book. Not the plot. Not any of that great info about whales. Nor any of the...
Heading Home
Excursions end somewhere. Sometimes at the door of a skilled nursing facility. I’m scouting out this one for the collie. The plan is one day he’ll become a therapy dog. Then we’ll go visit...
Visually Similar Images
I don’t much follow the news, but sometimes it follows me. This morning an unsettling picture showed up on my Facebook news feed. You never know what’s going to turn up there. In this...
Office of the Dead
News from far away. None of it good. A walk through empty streets. Light begins to fade. A long-shuttered restaurant. Something happened to the owner. Sign over the door says: “The Area’s Best Kept...
Self-Guided Tour
I stop by to pay a visit to the Thomas Cole National Historic Site. I’m early. Visiting hours don’t begin for another half hour. I sit on the porch and look at the view....
Looking for Robert M. Coates
The collie and I were on the trail of some literary ghosts. We were following directions provided in a letter written sixty-five years ago by Robert Coates to Malcolm Cowley. Along the way we...