Posts From Old Journals

  • August 23, 2021 – Meditations on the Buck that Visited Us Each Night

    Written as a part of an email home while working on a tugboat in the Arctic Circle of Northern Alaska. We had an adolescent buck that would visit our backyard each night, and we’d taken… Read more

  • Tattoo Flash – Oni

    The greeting card design was based on a traditional Noh mask of an Oni, a mythological Japanese demon. There is a history of traditional Oni tattoos. They are printed on any scraps or appropriately sized… Read more

  • Tattoo Flash – Tiger

    The greeting card design was based on a Sailor Jerry traditional tattoo. They are printed on any scraps or appropriately sized cardstock, and more are printed as I need them. I include a greeting card… Read more

  • La Estrella

    “La Estrella” is six plates printed onto four different types of paper using a homemade printing press. This image was inspired by several sources – tarot, Mexican Loteria cards, romantic painting, and symbolism. If interested,… Read more

  • Endurance

    “Endurance” used six plates printed onto navigational charts. These charts were used in navigation of the Ocean Giant, a heavy lift ship that makes a yearly voyage to McMurdo Station in Antarctica. The Endurance was… Read more

  • Aluxes

    By Ben Leib The pueblecito was laid out just as we’d come to expect and rely on. We parked in front of la catedral and approached one of the pastor vendors operating at the perimeter… Read more

  • Stout of Heart, Bereft of Mind

    By Ben Leib The shadow of the helicopter was visible beneath us, a blurry oval tipped forward and moving over the surface of the New Orleans swamps and waterways. I wasn’t faring well. It had… Read more

  • Those Lonely, Lonely Nights

    By Ben Leib “So, do you like meth?” she asked me. She pivoted sideways in her barstool so that her legs were straddling my knee. She was pretty. Or, she was pretty enough for me… Read more

  • Climbing

    By Ben Leib Bobby and I approached the Nexus desk.  It was after breakfast, maybe eight thirty, and we were getting an early start.  But there were also time constraints, and Bobby needed to meet… Read more

  • Je Vais Bien

    By Ben Leib My eyes were open.  I knew I wasn’t falling back asleep, and I experienced that as a traumatic disappointment.  If I could, I would have slept life to the end. The room… Read more

  • The Brave Man who Lives in my Gullet Whispers

    By Ben Leib I was walking down the street and the sun was still shining, which meant that there must have been some special occasion, some purpose for my excursion into the world.  Staring at… Read more