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Cascades of gold in thin glasses~
Hissing whispers stuck beneath the meniscus.
A thousand tiny stars rise,
Mixing with the wild new year's eve air.
Perfect spheres burst at the surface~
Alive for just one second.
Gone too soon, like laughter, like youth,
Never meant to bide, only to hypnotize.
Elegance is a fleeting thing.
Bewares Home
Single fleet
How we can merge on a Continental Drift is up to me
She's comes apart
This is the only way backs in
Turbulence bests us otherwise
That
Pitch chase and drags in swirl pre disposed moments?
I'ma feeling of pause
Ifns a bluff
Scene one of myriad finance?
Eclipse glare meniscus orders down
I only got an in an out focus for table of me in line for hours of next meals getting chewed
Every acrobat on mind has winged in wars.
Old or sceptical
Generals an Admiral
My ability is return the crap that sent that
Illusive wonder they stay on land with tech
A charley horse is killing me, so I am dragging my left foot
I cannot meet for lunch, for my face is full of dirty soot
I am limping a little thanks to a torn meniscus on my knee
You will have to have your church tea without little ole me
Arthritis is crippling my fingers, so I cannot do quilting you see
My eyes are doing poorly, so I cannot help with the spelling bee
Baked goods are not possible, my oven is on the blink.
I cannot bathe your baby; there is a cobra in my sink.
I cannot meet you that day; I have an appointment I know.
I despise giving you these excuses because I love you so.
Maybe I could meet you next September for some dinner.
I want to wait until then, in the hopes I might be thinner.
Swimming was my favorite exercise as a child
Loved the freezing cold water even if air was mild
In the late seventies, racquetball became the rage
I drove my new baby to daycare and loved this age
Running was never my favorite thing to do
Maybe I had never found the right jogging shoe
In my mid fifties I exercised at Curves and got into shape
Svelte and jock-like, I could have worn Wonder Woman’s cape
I tore my meniscus while doing yoga at work one day
My new exercise included a bicycle like pedal thing now put away.
I have five hobbies
Do them all day long now that I am retired
Cartooning, painting, poetry
Tv binge watching
Playing with my dogs
I used to garden
But my knees won’t bend any more
I swam and played racquetball in my youth
Those days are gone
Falling down is one of my biggest fears
Since I tore my ACL and meniscus
I have two big-butted dogs
I use a walker so they do not knock me down
Being old is not like being young
Do what you can now, while you still have a body
Ties
The squealing of
the glowing ties in
my bottom chest drawer,
ties I seldom wear and
definitely don’t think
much about, spreads in
my knee to
affect the
lateral collateral and
medial collateral ligament; affect the
lateral and
medial meniscus; of course too
affect my
patella, femur, fibula, and
finally tibia. As a consequence, there are
days and nights I can’t
walk and
I can’t
thank them all enough!
I used to be able to run full steam all day with little sleep
Now I can barely walk unless I have a little cat nap
because I still am a fitful sleeper at night, up and down
I once ran around my yard with my dogs
Now arthritis in my ankles has me ambling, slowly
I dream of walking fast, which I also did once upon a time
My vision used to be better than twenty-twenty
Now I cannot read books or magazines unless they are big print
or I keep a magnifying glass close by my easy chair
Sitting around watching TV was the last thing I would do
until ten years ago when I tore my meniscus
Now I spend a lot of time eating potato chips in front of the boob tube
I used to be clever and funny and fun
I do not feel that way anymore
I feel dumpy and frumpy
Do what you can while you are young
Fifty five is a lot younger than seventy-three.
You might as well know it now.
"meniscus"
the water strider disciple
no doubt believes
he's jesus
old age can never get me I said
Putting on my roller skates
I don’t need a helmet I said.
Bam. Crack. Break. Smack.
guess I am not as young as I thought
No problem, a broken leg, big deal.
Not really, I assured myself.
I will heal in an hour or so.
Like when I was twenty
Three hours later my leg is bigger than my house
I have to live in the garage
until the swelling goes down
which takes a couple of weeks
old age will never catch up I said
I did a few jumps off the roof of the garage
breaking bones and tearing my meniscus
what are you trying to do? My children ask
she is just grandma, being grandma, said the grandchildren
now I have arthritis in both legs
shingles, and asthma.
they are following me around like crazy
has old finally caught up?
I sign up for hang gliding lessons.
The day I fell off a chair and damaged my leg
I was amazed, for I had been resilient before
It took me a long time to heal my torn meniscus
I had bruised the bone too
I went from a wheelchair to a walker
Your damage might have been caused by your age
The workman comp doctor said
So they refused to fix it
Saying it would heal itself
It might have if I had been younger
But I wasn’t
Then my eyes went
I found myself holding the paper out
A tiny bit further each day
I started out with one point five readers
Now I am up to point three point five readers.
There are spots on my hands now, I feel like an old leopard
I began to fall apart at age fifty-five
Before that birthday, I felt young and exuberant
My enthusiasm has waned a bit
Thanks to arthritis in both ankles
Which means sometimes when I take a step
it feels like I have broken both ankles
Old age is ridiculously inconvenient
My first appointment for P.T.
(To help my torn-meniscus knee)
Had me arriving at the same
Time as another with my name.
She entered with a loud complaint –
The elevator was too quaint
And so she’d walked a flight of stairs,
But locked doors caught her unawares.
Annoyed at forms for filling out,
“I need a pen!” she then did shout.
I quietly observed the scene,
Then stood when someone called, “Ilene!”
“But I’m Ilene!” she did insist.
She glared at me, a little pissed.
The clerk, though, took it all in stride.
“You’re both Ilenes,” she clarified.
Our name’s not often spelled with “I.”
I’m sure, like me, she wondered why
Coincidence or maybe fate
Brought us together on this date.
I will win this race I think forgetting that my body does not run.
I will dance my jeans off I believe forgetting I have a torn meniscus.
I will do a double triple quadruple skate move at the Olympics I brag.
My ankles groan, they are filled with arthritis now.
I will climb that mountain so high!
My lungs laugh, reminding me of our asthma
I will win all the marathons in the continental USA
Unless this frumpy dumpy flesh body holds me back.
Linda, you gave me the confidence to be myself without apologizing.
Your kindness was most appreciated, especially without sermonizing.
You took care of my medical needs, and also my spiritual needs.
Your empathetic caring and kindnesses uplifted my depressed seeds.
I had never had a torn meniscus and a torn ACL before that day.
I was in shock, and hurt in every direction, every which way.
Your smiling presence and gentle ways helped me tolerate and stay.
In a hospital which actually made me feel quite sad and gray.
I did not appreciate you as much as I should have, I later found out.
On my third day there, I was given a different nurse, one with a snout.
She breathed too deeply her bumping-into-me stomach stuck way out.
Her manner irritated me greatly and made me want to shout and pout.
When you came back Monday, I wanted to give you a hug and a kiss.
I wanted to tell you how horrible was that other nurse, Little Miss Miss.
But when you told me she was your cousin, I was glad I did not do it.
But I am grateful for you my friend; your care helped me pull through it!
Linda, you gave me the confidence to be myself without apologizing.
Your kindness was most appreciated, especially without sermonizing.
You took care of my medical needs, and also my spiritual needs.
Your empathetic caring and kindnesses uplifted my depressed seeds.
I had never had a torn meniscus and a torn ACL before that day.
I was in shock, and hurt in every direction, every which way.
Your smiling presence and gentle ways helped me tolerate and stay.
In a hospital which actually made me feel quite sad and gray.
I did not appreciate you as much as I should have, I later found out.
On my third day there, I was given a different nurse, one with a snout.
She breathed too deeply her bumping-into-me stomach stuck way out.
Her manner irritated me greatly and made me want to shout and pout.
When you came back Monday, I wanted to give you a hug and a kiss.
I wanted to tell you how horrible was that other nurse, Little Miss Miss.
But when you told me she was your cousin, I was glad I did not do it.
But I am grateful for you, my friend; your care helped me pull through it!
I stepped back onto the back of the chair, not the seat.
Began screaming when I realized I was going down hard.
My foot landed in six different directions.
I yelled “Get the boss! Get co-workers! Get everybody!”
Ambulance came to get me. EMTs were very nice.
Gave me medication that kept me from going into shock.
I had torn my meniscus, and my ACL and I had bruised a leg bone.
Valium and morphine got me through it; I was singing songs now.
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