Who’ll Be Next

Wheelchairs

and walkers

in God’s

waiting room

Praying

abeyant

the end

coming soon

 

Front to

the back

they line

in the queue

Telling their

stories

from memory’s

askew

 

They wait

and they wonder

who’s next

to go

As all through

the lounge

great grandkids

in tow

 

New moments

like hen’s teeth

each minute

a year

As walkers

and wheelchairs

rust out

— in the tears

 

(Dunwoody Retirement Home: September, 2025)

 

 

Image DuJour

Reimagine the future

honor the past

Live in the moment

first ever last

 

Change the perspective

fences destroyed

Polar invectives

cursed to employ

 

The baby and bathwater

image du jour

Becoming the instant

your lens is secured

 

Honor the future

reimagine the past

Live beyond either

— your essence recast

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)

 

 

 

 

 

Twin Curse

Crossing the addictions

of body and soul

Delirium tremens

is taking its toll

 

Like Nitro and Glycerin

waiting to strike

Their coupling disastrous

all day into night

 

My spirit when willing

the flesh all too weak

Those few days I’m able

my willpower bleak

 

The detox not working

no cure comes my way

All food tastes like poison

these shakes here to stay

 

A bomb ticks within me

its fuse ever burns

Tomorrow a concept

long stolen unlearned

 

With nerve endings fraught

and my body destroyed

These nightmare’s the worst

— when in daylight deployed

 

(Radnor Pennsylvania: September, 2025)

Don’t Look Down

Do you become

famished

before you get

hungry

 

Do you become

smitten

when being

alone

 

Do you become

distant

once over

the target

 

Do you become

vagrant

though always

at home

 

Do you become

younger

with wrinkles

upon you

 

Do you become

foreign

while taking

the pledge

 

Do you become

angry

and lost

in your garden

 

Do you become

tempted

when nearing

— the edge

 

(Dreamsleep: September, 2025)