If I get old and grey,
And forget the time of day;
Or half blind and hard of hearing;
Or no longer care what I'm wearing;
If I get old and grey,
And cannot remember my name,
And most my days are filled with pain,
Will you still love me just the same?
If I get old and grey,
And all my memories go away,
Will you come listen to me anyway,
Even if I have nothing to say?
If I get old and grey,
Will you visit me still?
Will you calm my fears?
Will you wipe away my tears?
If I get old and grey,
Please hear me if I should say,
"Sit and talk with me for a while.
Remember me always and a day".
her parents were hard of hearing but refused to wear aids
making Miss Polly the loudest croc in the everglade
we swamp people knew she was coming every single time
not only was she unusually loud, but she tended to wheeze and whine.
Millie was flattered by the whistling of men
But her friend, Tillie, told her to think again
"They're just catching their breath
but are as pale as death.
It's healthy ones, Millie, for whom we should yen."
"Well, darn it, girl. You know I'm hard of hearing
I thought those guys were speaking words, endearing.
"That noise is their wheezing,
and their looks aren't pleasing!
Let's move along now, Millie. Please stop leering."
Millie looked back but off fell her eyeglasses
She stopped to rip toots and expelled her gasses
"I know that really stinks!"
She laughed, "I'm such a minx."
Don't tell me I should take etiquette classes!"
They strolled until Tillie had to take a seat
for she was feeling a bit faint from the heat
Millie started to scold,
"Tillie, you're gettin' old."
"Not too old to kick your walker to the street!"
"I'm only saying those guys were old geezers,
not the sexy kind we once called 'strip teasers!"
And at that thought, Tillie smiled
In younger days, they'd been wild
"They're not what we'd ever call 'woman pleasers."
Be mine, oh please, love my heart, soul and gut
Your meanness is sexy, my darling ____
Oh, my dear AG
Turn your fury on me
Scream insults at me as I swat your _____
by Robert Gorelick
Rants and raves at congress, she’s domineering
Attorney General’s reputation smearing
Unlike humble Ghandi
She's Mean-Girl Bondi
A maniac, hard-hearted and hard-of-hearing
by I Am Anaya
Happy Valentine's Day!
2/14/26
Cheerios got haughty when she saw who had arrived.
Those stupid Fruit Loops will not keep anyone alive.
She whispered to her neighbor but no one whispered back.
That’s when she noticed she is on the end of the cereal track.
Fruit Loops tried to make conversation, but Cheerios is stuck up.
Keeping her coupons so high, they could not come down with a pup.
Fruit Loops thought she was hard of hearing and tried harder now.
Cheerios stuck wax in her ears, she felt no kinship or wow.
Don’t even try it another box of Fruit Loops said to the new box.
She has always been haughty, she thinks she’s a chic fox.
Fruit Loops did not have to worry for long, she was soon gone.
Taken off the shelf by a boy and his daddy and mom.
the water guy has an annoying loud voice
I jumped a foot when he asked if I wanted a drink
I have heard megaphones that were softer
I dare not touch the water
fearing he will return and scream at me again
He must be hard of hearing
But I am not
Why do they let him work here? I asked another waitress
We cannot get rid of him, she confided. He owns this restaurant.
In the debate between dubbing and subbing
I side with subs to savor the original
mellifluous French, Tamil, Korean, Italian...
Reading the subtitles assists the deaf
and hard of hearing although voiceovers
benefit the blind and vision impaired.
Historically dubbing was employed
by fascist governments to advance
the nationalist agenda. In our own time
the tendency to consider dubbers dumb
implies reading’s the indispensable skill.
My wife reads her mail while watching movies
so she prefers dubs. I admire her mastery
of two idioms simultaneously
but my limited bandwidth favors subs.
There are days we live only for others
and happy to share in ours,
words of devotion
even scars.
Though I never presumed to know
or even understand..
only pretend.
But this time's not the same
this unshakable thing,
like a pain,
is not pretending.
A feeling that wakes you from a deep sleep
real, whatever that is..
transcending all moments that came before
you.
Although still hear
so clear, another voice,
one that claims to be sane
'I didn't want this'.
Damn all this weakness.
The other says 'show me..,
do not tell me in a whisper'.
Like a drumbeat in the desert wind..
love is hard of hearing.
Once more, I am thinking about writing -
coils are uncoiling,
snakes study the intricate anatomy
of legs and next steps.
My audience of one
must be propped up as if yet still alive,
geriatric words must be given their shots.
I can tell it's going to be a performance,
the poem is even now going off script.
It babbles; the entire cast of 'Hamilton'
has just walked out in protest.
Only Prokofiev and his 3rd piano concerto
can save me now, his notes are jungle drums
for the hard of hearing,
however, the write is not a musical
or a concert. It's, it's err...
Anyway, it is almost teatime.
Already the critiques
are sharpening their pencils.
I pull apart my white fancy actors' shirt,
buttons pop exposing the telltale signs
of recent romantic heart surgery.
Now an overwrought muse is yelling in my ear.
Dammit,
I simply cannot write another thing
under these circumstances.
I box up the coiling snakes,
exit left.
She promenaded in wearing a cake on her head
This made us all laugh except dour uncle Ted
Happy birthday she sang in a high soprano voice
What did she say? Asked hard-of-hearing old Royce.
With a flourish she plunked the cake onto a table.
A distant cousin, our cake-designing wonder Miss Mable.
We were all glad she had come, and brought us this fine cake.
We gave grandpa a party, and a tasty chocolate shake.
"We come into the world alone and we die alone." ~ Diogenes
What was that, Diogenes?
Speak a bit louder if you please.
I'm old and hard of hearing,
and I fear my death is nearing.
Well, anyway, I've never died,
so, I couldn't tell you if I tried,
but I heard Death's pretty skinny -
meat on his bones, he hasn't any.
On that sad day your number comes up,
and he's at your door, don't give up.
Bar the windows and lock the door.
Disguise your voice, try to ignore
him, but you know he'll get 'ya,
and everyone will soon forget ya',
which I suppose is just as well.
You'll have worse problems down in Hell.
When you die, it's really a shame,
but you only have yourself to blame.
You didn't have to eat it all,
but you never worried 'bout cholesterol.
I hope God will hold my hand,
that really would be mighty grand;
and I ask for His forbearance.
Please don't send that angel Clarence.
What's that Death? I can't hear ya'.
You look all scary, but I don't fear ya'.
Come again some other day.
I think I'll go outside to play.
Without respect it is hard to find peace,
Without respect Love may be one sided,
Without respect we tend to become hard of hearing,
Without respect opportunities to grow are limited,
Without respect hate finds it easy to gain a foothold,
Without respect it is easy to lie and cheat,
Without respect a short life will seem long.
The Parrot
The bird in the cage has featherless wings folded
to the naked body like squeaking scissors
I'm 89 today let, me out of this bloody cage!
Its owner is hard of hearing, is the widow of a war
veteran, I think the First World War
She tells everyone she meets, 8 million horses and
12 million donkeys were killed on the battlefield and no one
took notice
Humanity only thought of their suffering and were
impervious to animals' feelings, more, a wounded animal was eyed as a potential meal by hungry soldiers
Dragged from a green field to a soggy battlefield and
not a word of thank you
Goulash, the famous Hungarian dish, was made from horse
flesh and camouflaged with paprika, pepper, and salt
for 89 years, the parrot had only been able to read
the titles of books on the shelf on the opposite wall
It had a lively mind and listened to the radio every day
well educated can squawk with the best of them
I will put you in myself -
to rummage,
to find,
to separate the jumbled together,
all the haphazardly stored,
all the neglected,
all the rejected and abandoned.
Salvage what you may
leave the rest,
come back to my face
peer from the corners of my eyes.
What do you see of my outer self
a bear, a cat, a sad little boy?
What did you find of me,
what worth keeping? What treasure
long buried?
Did you say nothing or something?
My heart is hard of hearing.
Tell me,
help me clean up the mess.
If you can
save something for tomorrow
a piece of 'what could have been'
would be useful.
Now leave with my dying thanks.
Be sure to shake my dust from your shoes.
They spent many happy years of married life,
hard of hearing he heard the shout of his wife.
She once told buy potato,
he bought bagful tomato,
found himself sunk in the sizzling soup of strife.
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