A tourist leaves
a comfortable room
at home, travels
for hours, days,
uncomfortably
by plane, train,
bus, car, all
clothes stored
in suitcase, trying
to avoid being
robbed or mugged,
in order to reach
another comfortable room
in a place where they
don’t speak your
language.
When I am gone
no mirror will
ever reflect
my face again.
My old school
classmates are
all turning
seventy five
this year.
Not me,
I’m turning
seventy four
and I feel
oddly pleased
about this,
like setting a clock
an hour forward
and so gaining
time. And I
need to gain
all I can.
Ambition burned
white hot when
I was young, then
I lost it, discouraged,
then found it again,
then lost it,
then found it,
now, in old age,
thinking myself
safe, the old fraud
seems to have
appeared again.
Is Donald Trump
speaking
in tongues?
Some of my
friends die young,
all of my
enemies live to
a well-rewarded,
ripe old age,
it seems.
How can I
remember
perfectly the
words of a
Lonnie Donegan
song from
1958
when I have
forgotten so much?
Capitalism
is the best
system ever
devised for
creating
populations of
ignorant
docile
people
All over the
world, people
keep dying
to please
other people’s
imaginary friends
Old photos:
old family;
old friends;
old pets;
old places;
old events;
old hopes;
old dreams.
