Worry No More

I’m turning 65 in a few, too short days.

Another of those seeming inevitable happenings,

a lesson in the passing of time,

the stages of life,

and, oh yes,

a reminder of my begrudging lack of control.

I stand at the intersection of, “I don’t want to die”

and the certainty that, “I don’t want to live forever.”

You know, trying to choose between my fears of pain

or that dwindling “quality of life” business.

One thing I ask. And I hope it’s not too much.

If there is any possibility,

please, don’t let death have its way

while in the midst of this political sewer.

I mean I’ve got kids and grandkids.

And I’d like to think I could have the peace

of leaving them in a better place,

with a whisper of hope,

when I say that last goodbye

and cross over to that place

where I hope to worry no more.

February 2019

Read at SpeakEasy 23 - March 2, 2019

SpeakEasy 23: Poetry & Democracy

How I plan to spend Spring Break

Read a couple of books that will alter my life arc

Write the great American novel

Make connections to restore long fractured relationships

Lose weight

Spend soul feeding time with family and friends

Take long walks

Wash and wax my car

Maintain my weight

Binge watch mindless TV

Get my hair cut

Not give up on the Mariners

Not gain any weight

Alternate ending:
Remember to take my daily meds
Sleep without an alarm
Finish the damn taxes
Not gain too much weight

Like Pompeii

Will it be like Pompeii

when Baker finally blows?

Will runners be eternally frozen on their second,

or possibly third, loop on the backside of Padden?

Will Lummi kids be caught forever playing chase

on the riverbank near Marietta?

Will cars be perpetually jammed at

border crossings in Blaine, Lynden and Sumas?

Will newborn calves be calcified suckling

their mother’s teats on farms around the county?

Will the neo-punk, quasi-hippie, post-grunge,

sort of goth street kids be forever huddled

on the corner of Railroad and Magnolia,

bantering with the spandex-clad city cops

astride their requisite bikes?

Will the Governor be secretly sparring

with FEMA and Homeland Security

while the Red Cross steals the lead

on the evening news?

Will a rapidly produced, “sensational, gut-wrenching”
Made-for-TV movie be the inevitable dénouement?

SpeakEasy 15

Here is a link to the poems from SpeakEasy 15. https://othermindpress.wordpress.com/speakeasy/speakeasy-15/

SpeakEasy Poetry presents SpeakEasy 15: Poems and Prayers for the New Year

I'm looking forward to reading at this event:

SpeakEasy Poetry presents SpeakEasy 15: Poems and Prayers for the New Year

Sunday January 18, 7 PM, Mt Baker Theater Encore Room

SpeakEasy is a poetry reading series founded in 2009 and produced in Bellingham, Washington, by Luther Allen, author of The View from Lummi Island. Each SpeakEasy addresses a different perspective or theme presented through the written and spoken words of different local poets. SpeakEasy 15: Poems and Prayers for the New Year will give voice to the hopes, beseechments and visions—both personal and global—of a select group of writers.