Gladys has an iconoclastic personality
a beatnik, hippie, nonconformist to the max
her yard does not fit into this posh modern neighborhood
it is colorful with reds, greens, blues, oranges
an assortment of mushrooms, frogs, windmills and such
she has not had to comply to the four approved color schemes
the homeowners association cannot oust her
she was grandfathered in, “as is”
a stipulation for selling this land to the developer
her monkeys, gnomes and faeries thumbing their noses
at neighbors who are not allowed to paint their doors red
or add an ornamental rock without permission of the association
Grandfathered In
David J Walker
And now when a
pretty girl smiles
in her summer clothes
that invite the summer sun in
On some sunny August afternoons
Walk In the Park
I think of all the hair
under my ball cap
sticking out everywhere
all of it gray
none of it dark
and the Distortion setting in
on this Aging face with
the traces of what’s left of youth
when I was
handsome
and had some grace
Now trying my best to suck my
Gut in
But to no avail
remembering when
I could Simple
smile back
Without the Fear
of a heart attack
And now when a pretty girl smiles
I Grudgingly surmise
Actually, I realize
That I must have reminded her
of her
grandfather
Her embedded dialect,
Savored
I become a speechless stanza,
Craving her conjugated inhales
Hopped up grins,
Engorge momentary lapse of pre-judgments
Grandfathered seconds pass my retinas with
3rd eye epiphanies,
As she encroaches my textured tomorrows
How do I fly upon this gifted morn
When her lily-coated grins placate my Gaia wings,
Without uncertainty’s scorn
How do I breathe new breaths,
When her articulated verbs
Conjugate my silence
…
©Drake J. Eszes
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