Praying in the Closet, a Poem by James Strauss

Praying in the Closet, a Poem by James Strauss

  PRAYING IN THE CLOSET By James Strauss The preachers say pay and I’ll be saved, By the time they’re done, it’s my soul that’s been paved How can I get it right with this God, Failing time after time to give me His nod. Yeah though I walk yet all I get is talk,...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Four, Chapter I

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Four, Chapter I

The sun’s early light emerged from behind me as I faced out toward the large rolling Pacific swells that came in so innocently and inexorably to rise, form curls with white frothy water, and then smash themselves down on the sand as they approached the beach a quarter...
Field Stripping, a Poem by James Strauss

Field Stripping, a Poem by James Strauss

FIELD STRIPPING By James Strauss What does it take to try to stay sane, Living a culture where life’s a pain, I work at assembly of my trip, Like the Colt I often field strip. Only eight pieces counting the clip, Taking apart my heart does a blip, Boxes of ammo never...
One More Chance, a Poem by  James Strauss

One More Chance, a Poem by James Strauss

ONE MORE CHANCE By James Strauss The harshness of life incarnate, Beaten dogs have more to say, But I remain unborn to wait, My thoughts here will go away.   Unreborn at the master’s gate, I wait for my worth’s assay, Thinking and feeling insensate, But knowing...
Old Beaten Leather, a Poem by James Strauss

Old Beaten Leather, a Poem by James Strauss

OLD BEATEN LEATHER By James Strauss I’ve never been there, But that’s just a lie, As I’ve been everywhere, Moving so not to die. The power of love, Song’s lyrics from hell, Clutching tight as a glove, Ringing pain like a bell. Winds are all laughing, Standing to meet...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXXV

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXXV

Joe Beard sat at Gularte’s kitchen/dining room/living room table, its top cleared and cleaned off as I’d never seen it before. He sat behind a gray plastic box that looked like a small suitcase except for its sharp edges and pointed corners. Joe looked across the top...
My Rising Sun, a poem by James Strauss

My Rising Sun, a poem by James Strauss

MY RISING SUN By James Strauss A depression it’s called, The size of Grand Canyon. Climbing a face on its wall, Fights lost to those I’ve won. The sun also rises, The name of some movie. My life dangling in sizes, Unseen down below me. I surge toward the top, My mind...
The Mandarin, a poem by James Strauss

The Mandarin, a poem by James Strauss

MANDARIN By James Strauss Chinatown speaks if you pay close attention In the heart of an island filled with contention The haoles are white but black by nickname, Tourists included but locals fair game. An island of flowers and music idyllic, English that’s spoken...
The Odds and Ends, a poem by James Strauss

The Odds and Ends, a poem by James Strauss

THE ODDS AND ENDS By James Strauss Beat for the contretemps, Make it your quarry, For living good sense, Is for the bored and the sorry. Play to the stands, Your bat’s only good, For hitting at fans, Cause time is like wood. We’re sailing bad weather, Our lives all a...
The Odds and Ends, a poem by James Strauss

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXXIV

The morning came too soon, although ‘sleeping in’ like I’d loved to do when not at one of my jobs in college, had gone the way of the dinosaurs, lost somewhere down at the bottom of the A Shau Valley. That the valley’s name was known by no one, so never brought up by...
Beggars of God, poetry by James Strauss

Beggars of God, poetry by James Strauss

BEGGERS OF GOD By James Strauss It’s not that He doesn’t come, It’s that He doesn’t come as requested. The Lord’s therapy is one of action, Come down to a world of muted reaction. I ask him for things and resolutions, But often forget about decent definition....
Over the Falls, by James Strauss

Over the Falls, by James Strauss

OVER THE FALLS By James Strauss A surfer through life waits and seeks, Something afar for anything better, Through the flowing troughs and peaks, Tired of living this life not to the letter. Maybe the wind, surf and the sea, Will break with a crest of true meaning,...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXXIII

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXXIII

The ‘unseeable’ was coming home to roost, I now understood.  The artifact that was entrusted to me had something to do with San Onofre, the one ‘pod’ that had been taken out of service to become some sort of hyper-secret nearly impenetrable laboratory or meeting place...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXXI

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXXI

I could not talk to Paul, nor my wife, nor anyone else I could think of except one. Richard. He, Cobb, and Hunt had been intertwined in some fashion I didn’t understand, but intertwined they were, at least in my analysis of their proximity at the harbor, their special...
The Tribe, From the Wilderness

The Tribe, From the Wilderness

THE TRIBE From the Wilderness by James Strauss   Alexandre Dumas, in one of his grand sweeping romance novels of all time, created the phrase “one for all and all for one.”  The phrase referred to the combined friendship and focused attitudes of four...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXVI

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXVI

Earlier in the day the weather had been so very Southern California that I hadn’t noticed it, as I ran around arranging everything I would need for the mission. However, when I was ‘installing’ the Bronco, once again, in between the giant beach cleaning machines at...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXV

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXV

The tapes were proving to be a nightmare, not just because the job was boring and delicate but also because of the time. There was the beach patrol issue to be dealt with, as I was on at four in the afternoon and no real way out of not spending six hours, or so doing...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXIV

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXIV

I lay in bed, my body wanting to fall into a restful and restorative sleep, but my mind was having none of that. In closing my eyes, I wasn’t taken back into combat, which happened only rarely and never when I was so tired. No, it was Gularte’s words about a possible...
The Death of the Future, From the Wilderness

The Death of the Future, From the Wilderness

From The Wilderness THE DEATH OF THE FUTURE By James Strauss   In one of the first ‘From the Wilderness’ articles written more than a year ago, I made a prediction that the forces opposed to both electric vehicles and automatic driving would face nearly overwhelming...
Death From Above, From The Wilderness

Death From Above, From The Wilderness

FROM THE WILDERNESS Death From Above By James Strauss The Internet can be a terribly accurate but often unresearched data base for things many people never think to research.  One of those things involves death by pilot suicide.  For example, between 2011 and 2021,...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXII

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXII

I realized just how different Bob Elwell was, as I sat out at the end of the pier considering the coming dive. The simplicity of his plan, versus the overwhelming complexity of my own, amazed me. I’d given my plan only about a fifty percent chance of succeeding since...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXI

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XXI

The cat, Bozo, sat at the double doors, almost always open, as it was the morning, the cool breeze wafting in across his short, scarred by still strangely soft body fur. He looked out, although, what with the solid wood railing between him and the more distant outside...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XX

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XX

There was nobody at the Galloway restaurant when I showed up, half an hour before it was supposed to open. There were certain advantages and disadvantages I presumed in owning or running a restaurant and living in attached quarters. Lorraine was indefatigable, and Tom...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XIX

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XIX

The three of us sat on the bench, our backs to Cobb’s smaller, but expensive yacht, and facing Richard’s larger and much more expensive yacht. It was readily apparent that the two boats were so closely slipped near one another out of deliberation rather than ignorance...
THE COWARDLY LION Volume Three, Chapter XVII

THE COWARDLY LION Volume Three, Chapter XVII

Gularte and I worked back and forth across our interconnected plots of sand, rolling over the state beach area without stopping, as the state guards didn’t much appreciate the beach patrol’s existence much less the mostly reserve officers that manned it. “It’s a turf...
The Star on The Cape, From The Wilderness

The Star on The Cape, From The Wilderness

THE STAR ON THE CAPE The world of me. The time of me. The expression of me. And the reflections by mass media that our entire consciousness is being overwhelmed by this intense and burning need by everyone to have the focus placed upon them and only them. This has...
FromThe Wilderness, Article One Hundred Eleven

FromThe Wilderness, Article One Hundred Eleven

FROM THE WILDERNESS Heat Also Rises By James Strauss   I hold advanced degrees in both anthropology and physics.  I think I have studied enough and traveled enough (122 countries) and dived deep enough (in every ocean and ‘sea’ on earth) to have some idea about what’s...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XV

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XV

I sat facing both Haldeman and Ehrlichman, as I had in our previous session. They sat on the couch while I was in an overstuffed easy chair ninety degrees off the view of the ocean that they were facing. I didn’t make any effort to enjoy the stunning view, my full...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XIV

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XIV

My wife told me that I had to let the incident between Gates and me go, or I might potentially ruin everything. My argument against that was simply one of trying to live in a state of helplessness. Following Vietnam, I was being made to feel like an important man by...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XIII

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XIII

As soon as Bob was done talking the meeting turned into bedlam. “What kind of conclusion is that to come to?” Hoodoo asked into the maelstrom of everyone talking at the same time. “You have no basis in fact for any of your conclusions leading to that. We don’t know...
From The Wilderness, Article One Hundred Ten

From The Wilderness, Article One Hundred Ten

FROM THE WILDERNESS Billionaire Bastards By James Strauss   What are all the American courts, criminal, federal, state and civil trying not to tell the public? They are not only lying out of passively failing to discuss things of merit and fact, but they are also...
THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XII

THE COWARDLY LION, Volume Three, Chapter XII

We stood outside in the rain and wind, Butch and I staring at the replaced aluminum doors on the side of his Airstream. It was as if they had never been gone. Butch walked forward the few feet to the two steps leading up. He opened the screen door, and then the main...
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