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    August 18, 2010: Riley, Six and a Half

    “Ramble” is a writing project I began in 2002 challenging myself to write simply, counting down from 73 lines to one, where each line has 38 characters or less. There are five entries left to write after tonight, when I finally set down these lines for Riley, which I’ve been thinking about for quite some time, knowing I wanted to write one for him before he turned seven. Here you are my son, written at the start of your first grade school year, with a note to remind you that you are already a great person to your father. In…

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    January 18, 2008: Soaking it all in…

    Ramble #16 by Roger Darnell I haven’t logged in up at the top yet… I’m hardly qualified to be a poet tonight. It was a good day… a day with the kids. No less than Hickory Dickory Dock: The indoor recreational labyrinth of legend; it did not disappoint. Home, in the snows, well into our sixth Appalachian winter, our family joined the neighbors for dinner; they had other friends with kids join us. A night of merriment was enjoyed by all. Such a simple lifestyle, so warm, so fun. We are basking in it, and so are our two. Settled…

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    January 17, 2008: Ramble #17

    The ‘Bumper Crop’ series has at least one more entry, but requires a bit more work on my part before I can post the rest of the story. In the meantime, I wanted to share something from a more recent work. After we moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains almost exactly seven years ago, I found my creative writing energies more or less depleted. Soon, being a father added a new dimension to my life, and the one creative project that stayed on my agenda was to write an epic poem for Amelia, detailing the first day of her life…