aging

i’m still using

yesterday’s technology

floppy disks

shoehorns

codpieces

and can’t be bothered

with flossing

 

dinner

i usually procure

from the rack of

gumball dispensers

in the subway station

 

yesterday my three

children joined

a flock of geese

and flew off

 

and despite my best efforts

the touch-tone telephone

always returns

a busy signal

 

 

 

 

Reviews

[Beccy]

With age comes wisdom, my father's favourite riposte when he is gently mocked for his blunt thumbed inability to text and quite astounding disinterest in what he considers to be flippant technology, (as opposed to medical innovation of which he is a great advocate.) It's Inventing stuff to cure problems caused by inventing unnecessary stuff in the first place, he reckons.

He's quite right. I have a car with a sensor gadget in the front windscreen that both operates the lights and turns on the wipers when it starts to rain. It went wrong when the car was just less than six months old and started madly wiping when the screen was completely dry and put scratches all over the glass. The dealer fixed the sensor thingy, but I had to argue like anything before they finally took responsibility for the new windscreen I needed, which cost almost £700.00. Ridiculous bit of technology really as I am perfectly capable of flicking a switch.

Beccy.

[Terpsichore]

You only need to start worrying, when friends and family start telling you it's time you had a hobby and your kids casually ask you, in passing, where you keep your will.

T

PS. Try copying your floppy disc onto hard drive; does wonders for the libido.

[Usman Muhammad]

Beautiful symphony of words used in the poem.For some aging is a process which makes them look aged before their time. Beautiful poem sir. 3rd stanza was very impressive. Looking forward to your other writings.

[Penlady]

My gawd you'd think u were 90 years old....LOL (I'm 75) and wish I was your age....its called empty nest although the geese and all other birds don't suffer it humans are the only beings that allow their prodigy to return home if the need be....(I sound like an old shrew!) Its just that you are still in the mid of life and I figure I have about 5-7(GOOD) years left and they keep speeding up their disappearance...and I have SO much left to do....I run around with my grandchildren and they keep my computer, phone and etc. in good repair!

[...]

I had to look up "codpiece", I thought it had something to do with fish, but it didn't make sense lol I find this sad and yet sarcastically humorous...making fun of it all, what else is there to do with it. You always make me work at it, SF hahaha I can't come here and read you half asleep, I'd miss the whole damn thing in a blink :) That's a compliment, sir!

[. serah .]

-- the speaker's voice in this piece is very matter-of-fact and yet it expresses how excruciating the passage of time can be... -- time disconnects... a human being from their context... literally and metaphorically... but life continues to live in us till we continue to live in it... connected to our own experiences if nothing else... -- thank you for writing this moving account of an inevitable aspect of the human condition... it adds to our self-awareness and prepares us for the inevitable... helps us, in fact, to better understand it...

[Ruth]

Shows the passing of time well...particularly love the third stanza :)

[W.k.kortas]

Like the good roarke said, you had me at "codpiece". This is wry and at turns wistful, and enviably tightly drawn.

[roarke]

Brother, ya said a mouthful here. Heh, codpiece.....