Patrick M. Ohana
Bio
A medical writer who reads and writes fiction and some nonfiction, although the latter may appear at times like the former. Most of my pieces (over 2,200) are or will be available on Shakespeare's Shoes.
Stories (575)
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My First Piece Was a Sonnet. Top Story - August 2023.
My first piece of writing was a poem that was lost long ago along with my early innocence. My first memorable piece, which is still with me a few decades later, was a sonnet (The Yellow Afternoons of October) in honour of Sigmund Freud, who I was reading (studying) at the same time that I was learning Shakespeare. What joy and sadness from both! They are still two of my favourite writers. I received a BA in English and a BA in psychology, although the latter was not as rewarding as the former, since Freud was being brazenly bashed, mostly by individuals in denial. Interestingly, my favourite course ever, and I have close to twenty years of graduate studies, was titled Freud and Literature. Those were the days, and nights.
By Patrick M. Ohana2 years ago in Writers
Desperation Is Clawed
When Moses finished his Master’s, he decided to move to Honolulu. Given the free trade agreement between Canada and the United States, the flexibility of his online job, Sophie’s fondness for Hawai'i, and his growing love for these Polynesian islands, he found it easy to realise his plan. He sold most of their furniture, bought an expensive notebook computer, and practically gave away all of his books, save those that he could fit into a sturdy suitcase and take with him to his promised land. But which books should he take? Which books were (are) indispensable? Which books should survive after his disappearance, after humanity’s downfall?
By Patrick M. Ohana2 years ago in Chapters
Oedipus' Left Foot
Oedipus ("swollen foot" in Greek) was a peculiar prince before becoming a particular king, not on account of being Greek, but surely since he was human. Reality will almost always be stranger than fiction. It seems to be another rule of the Cosmos, especially in places where conscious beings can differentiate between the two. However, what is real and what is fictitious?
By Patrick M. Ohana2 years ago in Fiction
Freud's "Totem and Taboo"
The significance to anthropology of Totem and Taboo in particular and Freud in general are immeasurable. His advent did not bring to anthropology what Darwin had brought to biology or what Einstein had gifted physics. However, his astute analysis provided anthropology with a richer focus and a more colourful disposition.
By Patrick M. Ohana2 years ago in Critique
Bomb Shelter Pet
My fifteenth year presented me with a forgotten friend. I found her one morning, practically starving, having been accidentally imprisoned in the building’s bomb shelter. She was only a few months old, and readily adopted my petting hand. I brought her some food and thus found myself, once again, the caregiver of my favourite creature.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Families
A Soul's Space
Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. Souls can. Well, at least mine could, and it will anew when I get the chance to travel through space again. We were handed a sabbatical away from space, except that it means nine years here. Most call it, Heaven, but I deem it a dull Hell, where fires have been replaced by waterfalls. I have nothing against water falling à la Niagara and other such monumental cascades, but all the time, everywhere, forever become deadening, even to a soul, at least mine. I often wonder about Milton's words in Paradise Lost: Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven. 'Tis better to be dead, I think, most of the time.
By Patrick M. Ohana3 years ago in Fiction
A Soul's Train
A soul's train always stops for death. Carriages were used before trains, and walking, and or running, was the only mode for a soul before such wagons, although a horse or an ass could have been readily available for such a voyage. Are there soul planes nowadays, with their own control towers and airports? Luggage carousels and claims are surely not required, pilots and flight attendants must be dead or dreaming, and security must be lax.
By Patrick M. Ohana4 years ago in Fiction
