Down with Bowne (The Uncut Version)

This map hangs proudly in our “map room” of our family room. The different colored pins chart the places we have been as a family and as single explorers

A satirical novel about a London lad in serialised form. With the spare change in my trousers, I made a copy of Emily’s letter. One day I hope to publish “The Collected Correspondence of Thaddeus Littleman.” Would such an audience exist for innocent and pretentious musings? Who would ever purchase such poppycock? The Waterford Library was a bright oasis — inside — with new, earth-toned rugs, fresh...

“Stop Breakin’ Down” from Robert Johnson never runs out of gas. First published on The Riff: https://medium.com/the-riff/this-stuff-may-bust-your-brains-out-96afada20c5c?sk=3468d213ee77299137791cce2f262092 I first knew this song from The White Stripes. 1999. I mean, I’m a huge Blues fan. An Alt-Rock Dude. Classic Rock Dude. Of course, I knew the music of Robert Johnson — but I didn’t know he recor...

Using rain water helps Nature in so many ways, and it’s easy. First published in The Environment. https://medium.com/the-environment/rain-barrels-help-with-more-than-the-water-bill-3f7895901ccb?sk=526c54653c03d1fc50646a0cf3de872d

It would also make the cut for great anti-Vietnam War songs. Pigs savor the spoils of war in the killing troughs of France during World War I. (link) ( link ). Image by the author. Pixlr.com. First published on The Riff. https://medium.com/the-riff/add-black-sabbaths-war-pigs-to-your-heavy-metal-playlist-2f8dd8f5659b?sk=40b63d4ec97714ce550a7ee2c4c13441

JUDGING THE JUDGERS: ‘We don’t need your judgement or your jealousy’, Wally says. There are ‘lunks’ here at the gym, but we have to conceal our ‘shameful’ identity And because we have to stay secretive, we don’t feel in a ‘safe place’ — even with the silent eye stares from grannies and grandpas who are trying to stay in shape — and alive. And I say, ‘God bless us — every one — even ‘the lunks,’ an...

Literary magazines beg authors to return to writing for free. Beloved Writer, We noticed you have not submitted any poems or short fiction on Submittable to us with the required $25 reading fee. We really miss those fees. Well, as the reader, I really miss those fees. Can you blame me? Can you picture such an erudite and ambitious guy like me working at Dollar General? Heck, I’m publishing one of...

GEOFFREY CHAUCER, REFURBISHED: A parody of the General Prologue from “The Canterbury Tales.” Trafalgar Square on a Summer Evening. London. ( link ). First published on MuddyUm. https://medium.com/muddyum/yanks-on-holiday-fc8c64b684f1?sk=14e829da992877e8e1c7ffe05f3f8aa2 Here bygynneth the book ō̆ver behōste tō the world Here begins the book Overland to the World When in June and the spring showers...

Gunnen: Dutch: Finding happiness in someone’s happiness because you love them so much. First published on Paper Poetry.  "To awake before the dawn seems foolish — But it’s the early nurseryman who wins While the shadows on the vines seem ghoulish; The vines this morning seem like twisted strings — And the red berries hide in the moonlight, Shielded beneath the enclosures of green; But bashful...

In despair and lonely, and devoid of culture, Thaddeus Littleman, 12, writes a missive to his lady love, Emily, back in London.

As soon as Thaddeus Littleman arrives in Atco, New Jersey with his American father from London, after the death of his British mum, Thaddeus experiences life in America the way he always feared: getting shot at by The Cousin with a paintball gun. This is a satirical, serialized novel. Enjoy.

How I re-enacted George Orwell’s fable with my daughters.

Finding that door to get out of the labyrinth. Cover art: Plasticine Labyrinth. By Peter Shanks . ( link )

Twelve rolls directs the growth of the daisy poem. Walter Bowne wrote this on dice throws for the meter on the Dutch theme of gunnen. Dice rolls: 2–3–6/ 5–3–3/ 3–1–6/ 5–3–6

Gunnen: Dutch: Finding happiness in someone’s happiness because you love them so much

Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame.... this is NOT the sonnet they'll teach in school. But so well worth it. Photo credit: Peasant Lovers by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1793–1865. ( Link )

A short review on one amazing story of young love.

Isolated in three distinct sections, three characters run in the opposite direction of happiness. "At the end of the short story from Dubliners, the last story James Joyce devotes to adolescence, the slim girl of nineteen, Polly Mooney, hears her mother, the Madam, call from downstairs..."

Composed in the youth of my irrational exuberance at 22 in 1992. 

A writing lesson turned into a lesson about dying and living

My first concert: A crazy time with Dad does not take away crazy times with Mom.

Dan Norbury and Walter Bowne, beer dudes and book dudes, begin their series called Flights of Fancy. In Part I, Dan and Walter drink a fine stout, Gravity Road from Forgotten Boardwalk in Cherry Hill , NJ. They also discuss Robert Bly's influential book on the tale from the Grimm Brothers: "Iron Hans" and male initiations.

Applying Rhetoric to Your Writing. Hey there. Walter Bowne here. So. ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray,’ and the ‘Preface’ to Dorian Gray. Fantastic piece, right? Oscar Wilde added the Preface after he received so much heat and hate for the late Gothic and philosophical novella. A deep dive into the work: Enough context, right? I’ll use rhetorical terms for you to know and understand and also...

IN MUSIC, WE RETURN TO THE SOURCE OF OUR LOVE. South Jersey was full of losers, but I was the one, pulling out to win. Published in The Riff: https://medium.com/the-riff/on-thunder-road-with-mary-jane-3897a7d25827?sk=6e81623b114f1ef0869f2f89f2c09b03

Two poems make me ponder gratitude and acknowledgment. Original essay link here: https://medium.com/the-masterpiece/these-winter-days-as-a-snow-man-98407a333c41?sk=1334bf8e0260e6da4bee154ee86cc4a8 . Photo by Lanis Rossi (Lancaster County, PA). Photo used with permission.