Farewell Age Poems

a stroll …

just a stroll … like any other
numberless now, the times this path
had taken her to the wood -
the dark, deep wood where her
memories...

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We were vacationing in the state of
palm trees and seashore in September's
mild loveliness.
Me, a sexagenarian widow,
hobbled by arthritis in my knees.
As my family enjoyed the...

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You can always hear the jangling sound,
Of the organ grinder as he makes his way around.

He's out there in the rain or sun,
And everyone looks...

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Caution

Coal and violets strewn among your bone
Frosted the night, icy glaze of patient fire
Bending and breaking as a knead
Stammer and as tremor, shallots sake 
We...

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The Age of Man

We carried on
The age of man
Till moon of tin bore
An electric sun

And all machines 
Shone bright and clean
Keeping silent
But wanting more

Till the...

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Gentlemen, I’m fifty-three!
“Now, can I still climb a tree?
Atop tree raise hands with glee
Repeating “Atop thee, Gee!”?
An Apt Gift for this Birthday!
Yet, for biggest cash...

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ZEN DEATH HAIKU VIII

These are my modern English translations of Japanese Zen Death Haiku. 

Had I not known
I was already dead
I might have mourned
my own...

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ZEN DEATH HAIKU VI

These are my modern English translations of Japanese Zen Death Haiku.

Both victor and vanquished are dewdrops:
flashes of light
briefly illuminating the void.
—Ouchi Yoaka,...

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ZEN DEATH HAIKU V

These are my modern English translations of Japanese Zen Death Haiku. 

A cat in heat
can't catch a mouse? —
pathetic! 
—Kinpu, loose translation...

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To prepare for final cosmic breath
exhaled

echoing first breath
inhaling
waiting to exhale

silent sacred pause 
for Earth's final soliloquy 

Terminating all humane
and inhumane futures,
healthy
and disturbing relationships,
elegantly excruciating ecstasy

Leaving...

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Salubrious salutations, new age 
gradually old made voyage,
Living was perfunctory and now it’s stale,
Can the memory sway? 

You yelled but no one heard,
Maybe tide was...

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A haggard bit of burnt toast
    long since bruise-colored
  forlorn, it keeps to itself
    'midst crumbs indeterminate

 ...

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Akanji Michael Oluwasayo,
Celebrate today, it's yours

Darling, you must not stop
Keep pushing, aiming top

Even when you forget notch
Keep an open eye to watch
The mile window of...

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this last step...
protruding veins under the skin,
the other imperfections 
and these eyes,
from distance.
scaly is the word for it,
brittle skin.
it's not good,
evokes the relentless of time.
it...

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Marguerite is dead, Hey!
Slipped and fell on her head, Hey!
Though near eighty-four,
She traipsed 'cross the floor.
Now she's all done and said, Hey!

Marguerite knew the song,...

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