One Of A Kind (Like You)
A Look In My Existential Mirror (with a Telescope and a Microscope)Are you up for looking into yours? Then join me in my latest piece — published in Counter...
(Anomalous) Paperback Writers (plus)
Click on the image below to read about these two new books(or even order ‘em) . . . “Dear Sir or Madam, will you read my book?It took me years to write, will...
Read (All About It)
Paperback now available through Barnes & Noble online. Withdrawing Fables From The Memory Bank. . . and other New York City Reveries.• • •Click on book image...
Another Spring
SPRING! “Spring is the time of plans and projects.”― Leo Tolstoy In November of 2021 I wrote a piece about hoping to live to be 80 — to experience the joy of...
Voices of Joy and Truth
A Saturday morning at my computer — head full of ideas that are driving me insane — spinning a digital image. It’ ain’t no Guernica, but . . . “The War...
Spots Of Color Amidst The Grey
“Time that withers you will wither me. We will fall like ripe fruit and roll down the grass together. Dear friend, let me lie beside you watching the clouds...
Musician Speaks Truth To Power
A most direct, truth-filled, heart-felt, 12 minute declaration of what this war has been about — the machinations that provoked it, the false justifications...
Music Hath Charms (In Times Of Empire Collapse)
“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not’?” – George Bernard Shaw “Swine Grabbing All The Pearls” digital...
Lynch For Lunch, and other Delicacies
“Gotta get through January / Gotta get through February” – Van Morrison My piece about David Lynch just published in Counter Arts on Medium. Click to read...
Intense Ominous Whooshing
Gotta get through January / Gotta get through February” – Van Morrison My new piece/poem just published on Medium. Rev up your attention span — and check...
Forever Young, Getting Old, & Eye/Brain Candy
The most beautiful words in the English language are not, “I love you.” They're “It's benign.”—Woody AllenAfter weeks of concern and a biopsy the day before...
Beginnings, Endings, and the Songs in Between
A special New Year’s Eve edition.• For you, dear friends, rolling into 2025! •Beginning with two minutes of New Year's Eve wisdom. My new piece about music...
Eyes Wide Xmas
As we enter the last weeks of the year and prepare for our two annual “holiday movies” — [ Xmas = “Eyes Wide Shut”, and New Year’s Eve = “Whatever Works”] —...
73 (Best Regards)
73 — in Morse Code — is a palindrome. - - ••• ••• - - and is an abbreviation for “best regards”. Sonnet 73 — by William Shakespeare That time of year thou...
A New Book (and 2024 Books)
My book of short stories has just been published.The ebook is available now from Barnes & Noble. Click on cover image to order. The paperback edition will be...
Heading North and other fables
December 2024.“How did it get so late so soon?” ― Dr. SeussA few weeks ago I thought it would be wonderful to go up to Vermont to visit my family, who would...
Shadow Boxing & Healing
A brand new poem . . . Knocked Out & Shadow Boxing. Extractions and distractions | by aleXander hirka | Rainbow Salad | Nov, 2024 | MediumExtractions and...
Autumn, Halloween, and Elections
• • •• THE HORRORS OF HALLOWEEN AND ELECTIONS • • • • My new piece on Medium . . . Diagnosis: ED (Electoral Dysfunction) | by aleXander hirka | Oct, 2024 |...
Death, Art, Poetry
Autumn seems like a good time for a new piece looking back at my 17 year old compilation of songs about death. Sing along! Death’s Greatest Hits. Sing until...
Trouble in Oz
New short story. 3 minute read. Raison d’être à la OzI Don’t Think There’s Anything In That Black Bag For Me Raison d’être à la Oz. I Don’t Think There’s...
Stroll Pray Think
A Stroll Through the North Woods, Central Park, NYC 12 minute video with music.Filmed on GoPro9/edited in iMovie/music created in GarageBand Lord, Make Me a...
Lennon, JellyFish, West Bank, and An Awakening Flash
John Lennon’ Birthday • Strawberry Fields • Central Park • 26 minutes • A Visit to Planet Aqua Filmed at the Coney Island Aquarium • October 2024video/music:...
October Potpourri
In 5 Parts . . . AI, Poetry,Comedy, Music, Politics. Hope this finds you in good health. Enjoy. • AI • Two very simple first experiments with convert-text-...
Off The Leash
Yep — another rant about dogs in New York City — with a focus on their owners — and their shit. Lotsa pictures. :-) Curb Your Irresponsibility. Piles of...
Let's Be Serious
If you have issues with criticisms of Donald Trump, Obamala Harris, or even dogs, you may want to skip to the humor section below . . . ya snowflake! My...
Words. Laughs. Thoughts.
My new short 3 minute essay about words getting stuck in your head. Garrulous [gar-uh-luhs]. “Given to excessive and often trivial… | by aleXander hirka |...
"Press Button for Quick Service”
Eleven years ago, on our way to the Burning Man event, we stopped in Reno, Nevada, to do a Performance Art piece. “Press Button for Quick Service”. A...
Reefer and Other Madness
This playful new photo essay was published in Counter Arts today at 4:20 GMT. (Thanks, Sadie!) So. . .Light up a “j” and we’ll be on our way. Or eat up that...
Food and "Democracy"
If you live in New York — or are planning a visit — you will surely want to know about these fine dining establishments.Come along with me on a tour. Bon...
Talkin’ Old Man Blues'n'Views
Get Me While I'm Here Since 2016, I — writer, visual artist, philosopher, autodidact, and curmudgeon — have published over 300 short stories and essays on...
The Power of Music and the Noise of Power
A truly amazing concert last night at Lincoln Center. 4 minute sample. First, the Rajasthani folk group SAZ. Next, Vinayakram family — featuring legendary...
July 2 and July 4
JULY 2 Letters to my mother, written by me (and my girlfriend Gail), in 1970-1971, bundled up and hung at the Temple at Burning Man in 2017. They were burned...
PREJUDICE
PREJUDICE The chickens have come to roost on the ass (donkey). The Democratic Party who weaseled in Biden when Bernie Sanders was rising (thanks, Obama!) —...
PRIDE
👍 PRIDE 👍 Some art I designed in the past for the B in LGBTQ+.SwitchKissers Magazine — Montreal, Canada Spring 2000 — Front cover art by AleXander Hirka....
The Sense of An Ending
There are two books in the past that I read and had the need to re-read immediately upon completion. One was “Against The Day’ by Thomas Pynchon. At 1085...
Hole Or Soul (klaatu barada nikto)
Written some years ago. Thoroughly revised recently.Just published on Medium/Rainbow Salad. “Hole vs “Soul: Pseudonyms for The Emptiness”Two minute read....
All Aboard!
I wrote a piece a few years ago — a brief sketch of a ride of the subway.I recently looked at it, found it seriously wanting, so I hopped on the subway again...
SH*TS & GIGGLES - DARKNESS & LIGHT
As I drink my coffee on the morning after “Memorial Day” — military jets in flyover maneuvers vomit that sound of threatened violence in the sky over New...
His Bobness and the Truthteller
Happy completion of 83 spins around the sun to Bob Dylan. I am very grateful that his amazing work has coincided with my visit to the planet. I have followed...
Revelations Or More Camouflage?
If you’ve read some or all of the six episodes of my series “Withdrawing Fables From The Memory Bank” you will surely want to know the background as to how...
"Arise, then, women of this day!"
Julia Ward Howe (1879) — “Say firmly: ‘We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies, Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with...
Choo’n Gum and other Gnawables
A new four minute “short story”. See if you can read it, chew gum, and sing along at the same time. Choo’n Gum. Of Course He Spilled The Beans. | by...
We Are Stardust
Tomorrow will be one month since I shared with you Part Five of my series Withdrawing Fables From The Memory Bank. The writing has been slow but Part Six: We...
Satire, Music, and Intactitude
Welcome to this week's Tempest Tossed Stardust newsletter. Let's begin with fifteen minutes of beautiful music by Frédéric Chopin (1829-1847), accompanied by...
Bang Bang
This is the 147th edition of this newsletter which I began two years ago this week.Here's the link to the fifth installment of my "Withdrawing Fables From...
Flooded with Memories
I am currently working on the fifth installment of my "Withdrawing Fables From The Memory Bank" short stories. Being a fictional account of events from the...
Many Returns
The latest (fourth) episode of my Withdrawing Fables From The Memory Bank has just been published. I had begun work on it when my health hit the wall on 23...
Serious Shit — Parts #1 & #2
Part #1 My Body Conspires Against MeI don’t want to have you running out of the room screaming TMI (Too Much Information) so I’ll skip on many of the details...
Old Clothes and Newspapers
Just published . . . Part THREE of Withdrawing Fables From The Memory Bank. A six-minute meta-fictional pseudo-biographical magic-realism historical-fantasy...
All The Rage
Just published . . . Part Two of my Withdrawing Fables From The Memory Bank. A five-minute meta-fictional pseudo-biographical magic-realism historical-...