Category: aging

Why Not?

Severe
bone
loss

One more challenge
already exhausted system
accommodating further testing

slow
climb
determination

(Written for my weekly challenge: threes. I was diagnosed with Osteoporosis last year, but due to other, more urgent health problems, treatment was put on hold. Reviewing the situation, my doctor referred me to a specialist, who said I have severe bone loss in my hip and am prime for a break. After a fight with third party insurance, I am finally on board to start a bone building drug. Ah, life! Image my own.)

Sustenance Rekindled

It wasn’t the knowledge of stability –
chaos had the upper hand back then.
It wasn’t even that love was expressed –
unconditional an unheard of concept

It was an unspoken presence
the reassurance of rocks
the irrepressible allure
of a freshwater stream

How a child’s heart
found encouragement
in the whispering wind
solace in arbored shelter

Naturally the din of home life
overpowered this self-assured
passage, disrupted kinship
and shattered childish faith

But all that is behind now
and when I clear cluttering
thoughts, disperse static
emotions, still the heart

The rhythms are still there –
presence offering sustenance…


(Image my own)


Snakes at My Door

A preacher dominates
six o’clock news
megaphone voice
commanding protest
mask-less hordes roar

A young repairman
offs his mask with distaste
claims it’s all a hoax,
the cure is withheld
a ploy to control –
read it on the internet.

A friend whose wisdom
and words have inspired
confesses she’ll not accept
vaccination, as her life
is in God’s hands.

And from behind a curtain
of despair, I observe
as words, like snakes
gather on my front step
nest in a writhing menace

The virus’ venom
a poison I’m not sure
I can defeat

And what am I to do
when abstinence from public life
makes me conveniently invisible

and fear that if I speak up
will reveal a truth I cannot bear
that the devout, the young, the compassionate
care not a wink for the likes of me.

Untamed

Too young to understand
ethos of beauty regimes
she rejects girlish rituals
sees beauty in nature
in glitter of make-believe

This abnegation of grooming
not rebellion, but appreciation
a nuance that escapes
Mother’s frustrated efforts.

(My granddaughters balk at having their hair done, something that drove me crazy as a parent, but now reminds me of myself as a child. One generation removed, I view the issue from a new perspective. Image from personal collection.)