Johnny Wraith Stories - Latest Blog Comments

FLOWERS FOR ADAM - Chapter 2 - The fish - bobby

Thu, 15 May 2008 16:30:30 -0500

thats it?

Ordinary Grit Ch1 - Justin Briggs

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:53:41 -0500

love the site btw

That Girl - Johnny Wraith

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 11:14:49 -0500

Greg,
I’m glad you found something in this one. I wrote it straight from the gut without thinking, and sometimes that’s what it takes. I think I know what you mean when you say you try to go back to that girl for acknowledgement. I wonder if she would discount the experience now in order to justify her current relationship.
Johnny

Barrel of Wine - Greg Wakefield

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:50:08 -0500

The body can tolerate all kinds of poisons. Does the poison kill us? Make us stronger? Perhaps with alcohol we care less about things, worry less, hurt less. Can less worry be bad?
Can you still recognize your love ones when you drink?
Do you hurt them?
Do you forget to do things?
Do you regret drinking?
If not, why not just drink?

That Girl - Greg Wakefield

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:41:04 -0500

When I said more, I meant longer...not to detract from its quality.
Thanks.

That Girl - Greg Wakefield

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:40:12 -0500

Vintage Wraith.
Johnny this is your best. I think the story could be more. Maybe a book. We never know how much we mean to others. I remember a girl I thought I might love, could, did love and yet years later many will not return a call or a letter even though I just want some contact some acknowledgement that t really ahppened. There is a value here. A poignancy (spl). This needs to be said.
You are the best to do it. Many experiences, a good memory and maybe some real caring.
Thanks.

Candy Corn - Greg Wakefield

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 22:34:18 -0500

Good but are you afraid of living or dying?
Do you feel guilty you live a life better than your dog?
Is it just time to drive a Volva, er Volvo?
I like your stories that reek of truth a little better...but still there is a message here,
Thanks.

Barrel of Wine

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:30:33 -0500

Brutus 7 - The Tantrum - Ronald Matthew Kelly

Sun, 16 Dec 2007 23:32:49 -0600

Johnny,

Good work so far, if a little sparse. Keep it up. I await each new episode with baited breath.

Okay... I am looking forward to the rest of the story... but I lied about the baited breath thing.

Sorry.

Ronald

Candy Corn - Ronald Matthew Kelly

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:15:18 -0600

Johnny,

I know what Santa Claus will be throwing down my chimney this year. Candy corn, the sweet ass-candy of life!

Ronald

Candy Corn - Johnny Wraith

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:26:21 -0600

Ronald,

I've just read your comment several times because I am so delighted by it. If anyone ever asks what it’s really like to be a fly on the wall during one of the famous Ronald and Johnny dialogues, I'll point them to this comment and tell them to read the words while imagining 2 men are sitting in a booth in a dive bar and grill. The big man in a Hawaiian shirt is speaking enthusiastically; the balding, but still muscular one is intently listening while chomping down on a quadruple cheeseburger. Both men are only slightly past their prime, especially when you see them in dimly lit rooms, such as those found at a dive bar and grill.

Of course, when they go out into the parking lot to chain-smoke cigarettes, while leaning up against a taxicab, they take turns yelling out the verses of the poem included above.

No doubt you are correct about what is to come in our lives. I think we’ve both embraced a sufficient number of wives and daughters, and conquered our enemies. Riding their horses is next. As for the procurement of property part, I’m tempted to mark up the new Johnny Wraith Trucker Hat 50 cents, but I don’t have it in me to take any candy corn from the mouths of my readers.

There is no question what Santa is throwing down your chimney this Christmas Eve.

Johnny

Brutus 4 - The Descent - Ronald Matthew Kelly

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:16:56 -0600

Johnny,

That's a very artful use of the segue to transition from a comment to a commercial. Did you practice it?

Ronald

Brutus 4 - The Descent - Johnny Wraith

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 07:00:11 -0600

I think I have enough in the footwear department, however, speaking of apparel, if you click the Store button at the upper right hand corner of this page, you can purchase your very own Johnny Wraith Trucker Hat.

Brutus 4 - The Descent - Ronald Matthew Kelly

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:20:28 -0600

Johnny,

The Priest fears life, while the Shoemaker embraces it!

Want to buy a pair of shoes?

Ronald

Candy Corn - Ronald Matthew Kelly

Sun, 09 Dec 2007 23:17:01 -0600

Johnny,

One of the things that I love about your site is the quality of the comments that your readers make, and your responses to them.

I think that Maggie's ferry (ferris?) wheel analogy is apt. Both of us, old son, have had many, many turns on the wheel of life. We have seen life's ups and downs, and its' side-to-sides for that matter. We revel in our lives' ups and downs; our own, and each others.

The Vulcan who can erase painful memories will never get my business. I, too, am like Kirk: "My pain is what makes me what I am!" And how to decide what the threshold of removal would be? If we are honest with ourselves, all of our memories have some (even if miniscule) level of pain associated with them. Dial the threshold too low: lose too much of yourself. Dial the threshold too high: why bother with the effort?

Remember what Roy (Rutger Hauer's character) said in "Blade Runner?" I am paraphrasing here: "I have seen and done things most men will never dream of!"

Both of us, having passed our physical primes, are entering into our mental primes. What a glorious phase of life to be entering into! And what of our destinies? We may not know them, but know this, brother, we each have a destiny.

Mark my words, Johnny: what we HAVE seen and done is nothing compared to what we WILL see and do!

Remember the words of the greath Genghis Khan?

The Greatest Joy is Victory!
To conquer one’s enemies…
To deprive them of their property…
To make their beloved weep…
To embrace their wives and daughters…
And to ride their horses!

We have not yet ridden all the horses we shall ride!

Saddle Up, Cowboy! Hyah! Pass me the Candy Corn, the sweet ass-candy of life!

Ronald

Candy Corn - Johnny Wraith

Sat, 08 Dec 2007 13:16:15 -0600

One thing I’m discovering is the longer I live, the greater the burden, or should I say weight, of my memories. It isn’t that I’m haunted by anything in particular. It’s more that there is just so much history to sift and index. 10 years ago, I could see me in a snapshot. Now it is more convoluted. I can’t juggle it all, so I drop a few balls. And maybe the happiness of babies and puppies is replaced with reflection as decades turn their wheels?
Rather that being excited about imagining where we are going, we are stuck in deep thought, pondering the meaning of where we have been? So, I think we are on the same page.

If I remember it right, and I probably don’t, I recall a scene in one of the Star Trek movies. Kirk and crew meet a Vulcan with the power to erase painful memories by gripping the subject’s forehead and causing some sort of energy transfer. Many members of the crew go through the procedure and end up with dumb, happy looks on their faces. Kirk refuses the treatment, even at the promptings of his most trusted staff members. He voices his protest: “I want to keep my pain! My pain is what makes me what I am!”

Candy Corn - Maggie

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 20:39:26 -0600

Why are puppies so happy? Because they never ask themselves any questions.
Why do a baby sleep so lighly? Because its mind is still an empty book. Being an adult means that the pages are overwhelmed with question marks, old memories and foolish mistakes. If you tear a page though, the sequence of numbers will be broken. And unfortunately you can`t make a paperball of the torn page /which is a part of your soul/ and aim it at the nearby dustbin. But what you can do, is still write the pages infront. No matter of the years. "The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."/Henry Ford/. The years are nothing more than ink.

And if "Life is just a chance to grow a soul" /A.P.Davies/, writers, no matter whether amateur or professional, are already catchers in the rye. The only thing they need is courage. To go on being ones.

Regards:
Maggie

Candy Corn - Johnny Wraith

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 06:31:40 -0600

Maggie,

Thanks for visiting and commenting. I like your ferry wheel analogy, and it’s a really good one because not only are we spinning in circles, one day to the next, but also we’re constantly going up, and then down. Sometimes we can look out and see for miles, and at others just the ground is in our faces. The metaphor you’ve offered has given me another way to see things.

I really have my life figured out, though I’m currently tortured by losing my youth. This perhaps sounds a pompous thing to say, but I’m actually humble because I don’t believe I have a destiny or anything profound to achieve. I have made the subjective determination that as I ride the ferry wheel, my spins are limited but there are a few left. As long as I write it all down and see the world, I’ve done my best with the sum of all my moments, even if riches and notoriety are never mine to taste. I’ll still have had my Candy Corn.

Johnny

Candy Corn - Maggie

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 21:34:44 -0600

Johnny,
Nice interpretation, original association with the puppy. Enjoyed reading it. Unfortunately, the closer we are to the end, the more we regret the beginning. We gain maturity, but lose innocence. Reach adolescence, but look nostalgically back at childhood. And currently live our life "conditionally" - with flashbacks, thinking "what would have happened if I had done this, or hadn`t done that". But still, our life is a ferry wheel, the cabine is at the bottom, but next moment it comes on top again. Who knows, then we might be holding a candy corn of our own, the puppy looking jealously at us:) Because if there weren`t all those shaky movements of the cabine on the way to the top,the ferry wheel wouldn`t have made so many rounds, and we wouldn`t have been who we are...
Pounding Nails in the Floor with My Forehead" , it`s also a way of living, according to the good old Eric Bogosian.Isn`t it?

Regards:
Maggie
writingforums.com

Candy Corn - Johnny Wraith

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:05:16 -0600

Ronald,
Good observation with the dog. It makes me more aware that for me dogs are symbols of purity and love. They are without sin, but the most naturally hedonistic creatures.
Johnny