Aging (& Retirement)
Ghosts of the Past
I’d probably have more trouble with the ghosts of the past, she said, if my memory wasn’t shot to hell.
General Confusion
I used to be pretty clear on what was real & what I made up, but with everything going on in the world, none of that seems to matter, so I just decided to talk less & smile to myself more, so as not to add to the general confusion
Front Porch
My grandpa used to tell us about a man who had 3 heads who lived in his town & he was always in the kitchen frying something or other & even though it smelled like chicken it was really the bones of children. He was awake every time I saw him, my grandpa said, even late at night & we decided maybe he had 3 or 4 jobs but that’s what you need with so many mouths to feed & then my grandma would make us come in & watch educational television for our own good.
Forgetful
I don’t really have any secrets, she told me once. I just forget a lot of stuff.
Flower Child
I’m not that afraid of death, she said. I was in the 60’s, so I’ve already been through a lot of stuff I don’t understand.
Flying Naked With Jesus
When I was younger, I used to fly a lot in my dreams. I used to dream I was naked too. My grandma said it was all because of original sin & that if I lived a pure life that someday I would be able to fly naked with Jesus & then she looked at me & said many are called, but few are chosen & later on I thought it was a damn good thing too & I gave up pure living for a long time after that just to be sure.
Force Feeding
I know I can cook well enough to survive, he said, but I’m grown up now so you can’t force me to eat it
Forever
How old do you have to be to die? he said & I said I didn’t think anybody was ever old enough & that made sense to him since he was still new to the world & remembered how forever had been.
Flashback
I’ve been having the hardest time today coming up with excuses, she said. I think that I’m having a work ethic flashback.
Distinguished
You’re lucky, she said. You’ll only get more distinguished as you get older.
Close To The Ground
I still fly a lot in my dreams, she told us,
but I try to stay close to the ground. At my age,
a fall can be pretty serious.
Chocolate Voyage
Every afternoon my grandmother would have 2 chocolates with her coffee. I asked her once how many she thought she had eaten in her life. If you laid them all end to end to the moon & back, she said, I’d be sitting right here even as we speak & then we celebrated her return with an extra chocolate.
Circle Game
The children sat in a circle around him & he said, I don’t believe in life anymore & no one said anything for a while because he was older than they were & maybe knew something they didn’t, but then someone said, let’s play a game & someone said, Spy & someone else said, Chase & soon there was no one there but the man sitting alone
Classic Chic
falling back on the classics because it’s easier than admitting all this modern stuff is a little bit baffling
Center on Wheels
I spent a long time trying to find my center until I looked closely one night &
found it had wheels & moved easily in the slightest breeze, so now I spend less
time sitting and more time sailing.
Bones of Light
I remember we sat in the swing on the front porch & as the dusk came on us like a song, dark throated & sweet, he told me about the beginning when we had bones of light & hair that burned like the sun & I asked what happened then? & I felt him floating there in the soft dark & finally he said we forgot & I said I never would, but sometimes I do & I understand now why he put his arm around me & said nothing more.
Blind Spot
I’d like to think that things are getting better, he said, but my eyes are getting worse, so maybe I miss a lot.
Body Shop
She tried on every body left but they’d been pretty well picked over & all that were left were a little worse for wear. She finally settled on one that was pretty good except for a scuff at the elbow where you almost couldn’t see it anyway & as she walked out into the world she remembered thinking next time I’m going to get here earlier.
Birthdays (fem)
When people asked how old she was, she would say 1009365, more or less, because she was so glad to be alive that she counted every day a birthday. She had some disagreement from her knees about the actual figures though…
Bittersweet
She said she usually cried at least once each day not because she was sad, but because the world was so beautiful & life was so short.