Last Poem

No More Poetry

I am done. I am through. I am feeling so free'd
I might paint; take a walk or a nap; pull a weed.
Either way, I am finished. A free man indeed!
No more counting or tapping the beats on my knee.
No more searching for words that might say what I need
To be said. You know what? I'm all through. Can you see
What I mean? I can write but I won't. I'll be me
And just sit, read a book. Be a veg. Watch TV.
There's no money in it so it's not about greed.
I'm no good at this stuff and it makes my brain bleed.
So that's it. I'm all done. I've begun to be free.
I'm not kidding. I'm through. Just quit reading this screed.
Go about your own business and please leave me be.

Poem 4

Here's two attempts at experimental forms of poetry.

I know, these are pretty simple. Give me a break. I only just heard of them this morning!

A Cadae (3.1415):

You ask me:
Who?
I answer back:
Why?
Leaving things unsaid.

A Fibonacci (1/1/2/3/5/8):

You
Smile
And frown
Both at once.
How do you do it?
And why does it trouble me so?

Third Poem

Here's the third in the attempt to write a poem each day of April. I never claimed to be a poet, but that doesn't keep me from trying.

Running on Empty

Ol' Jackson Browne had sung a song that said
"In '65 I was seventeen…"
We're of an age, JB and I. Not dead
As yet but near enough. I was naïve.

I knew that soon the "olds" would die and we
Would sail upon a Sea of Love and Peace.
The Beatles sang to me: "You won't see me."
I thought for sure my joy would not decrease.

So Camelot was strong and Truth was "cool".
I left the arc of the new age to those
That had the time to spare and cared to rule.
Their life was poetry and mine was prose.

Now nearly fifty years since then have gone.
I think my life's been good. I'm not ashamed
and fairly free of deeds I wish undone,
with fewer sins for which I could be blamed.

My one regret I now declare I see:
I let my brothers set my course for me.
I'll say to readers born in '96:
You cannot leave it all for them to fix.

Unlike the previous poem, this one was done straight through to the end. I did not build a list of words I wanted to include, then list the rhymes for each of them.

I suspect that Stephen Fry is right: there's a better way. I think Poem 2 was better and more fun to write than Poem 3.

Poem 2

My Kitten Zane

A thinking man might see from watching pets
A lesson he will need to learn again:
My young gray cat repays the food he gets
With lessons on the art of play. Young Zane
Will fetch a crumpled wad I toss; it's plain
To me that when he hunts that simple toy
I throw, he thinks it is the real McCoy.

He stalks, he runs, he bats. He wrestles. It's fetched,
Presented at my shoe as prey. And yet,
No living mouse survives the hunt so wretched.
"It's paper, Zane, not food. Besides, it's wet!"
Who teaches whom? And though he's just a pet,
Those yellow eyes are locked on me: Um, dude?
I hunt. You don't. How is it misconstrued?"

A busy month ahead

130401 Poetry post

I think I'm happy I'm one of 'three';
Could be more fun than being 'one'.
Will I work well when not alone?
I guess I'll see with 'me' now 'we'.
My best behavior I'll employ
And do my best not to annoy
You.

This is the first post in what is supposed to become a series. Three of us have signed up for a poetry month, a poem each day in April at Camp NaPoWriMo. Worse than that, I also agreed to join for some fiction writing.

Not wanting to abandon the new photography urges or the sketchbook, I probably should not have taken this on. Plus, I finally got out for the first bike ride of the year yesterday, Easter.

I guess it's better to be busy than bored. I read that somewhere.

Peer Pressure Prevails

For someone who does not like joining, I seem to end up in a lot of things I would not do on my own.

I suppose it must peer pressure.

I find that I have agreed to attempt both NaPoWriMo (a poem posted each day in April) as well as Camp NaNoWriMo, a novel in April.

What was I thinking? Certainly not that I could do it. There is nothing in my history to make me believe that. But my friends asked me to lend them support and I understand how valuable that can be. I surely don’t have much else to offer them.

So check in here for poems and progress reports.

Assuming I make any.

Turning 65

I am all ready to be 65. I've often wondered why, of all the birthdays that are considered "big ones", no one seems to complain about the 65th.

I think I understand now.

Never mind that the ferry system grants discounts when you are 65. Never mind that in the eyes of restaurants everywhere you are well-and-truly a "senior". The big thing is getting on Medicare.

You see, I'm in that sector of the populace that actually will see improved benefits and a vast reduction in expenses once Medicare kicks in. I pay a small fortune for terrible medical coverage: it doesn't pay anything until I'm broke and in the hospital. That's pretty bad compared to Medicare. There's too many things to detail here, but I now know why few Boomers really complain about the 65th.

I'm looking forward to it.

And it's not as if I could successfully pretend that I'm much younger...