*****

Recorded Reading (3:34):

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/8m7sixhz5wucbruufqmq9/Senior-Activities.mp3?rlkey=q1forbxnj739mxbyp8lqv7j3i&st=5s4b0dwc&dl=0

*****

Senior Activities

Remember youth?
We were so wired
So naturally full of pep
We bounced with every single step

Each day
Adventure with inspired ~
My lease on that
Sure has expired!

Now ~ although when
I get the chance
You will see me
Rise up to dance

And get right on
All the way in it ~
I won’t last more
Than just a minute

On that dim
Gyrating floor
My prudent swift
Retreat before

Back to the chair
At table where
I can adjust
My underwear

(Which climbs as it
Did not before)
Then all my muscles
Will be sore

For days and days,
As will my back
Insist on going
Out of whack

Even the aged
Need to play
Good heavens!
I must find a way

Not to become
Boring and bored
~ So I won’t take up
Shuffleboard (aaaaugh!)…

Now let me think
Now let me see
What should my
Activity be?

More sedentary ~
Oh, perhaps
I should consider
Drawing maps!

No, that won’t work,
No, that won’t do:
How will I meet
Tall, handsome You

If in my map room
Locked away
I am, instead of
Out to play?

Besides, it’s true
I have to say:
I’m bad at drawing
Anyway

So that’s a wash
Yes, that is out ~
What else might it be
All about?

I somehow don’t think
They would like ‘er
If I tried
To be a hiker

Stopping every
Twenty feet
To sit down for
A bite to eat

Consid’ring self
At liberty
To long admire
The scenery

Before reentering
The race
At a nice
Leisurely pace

Until I will
Repeat the whole
Not much closer
To the goal ~

No, it’s clear,
Upon some thought,
A mountain climber
I am not

Well, hem! Well, haw!
Well, cogitate!
How will this woman
Recreate

In a way
Commensurate
With grandmothers
Who’re also great?

I thought one time
To take up yoga:
They disapproved
My Calistoga

And class came to
A sudden end:
I bent, but then
Could not unbend

Some took my feet
Some took my head
We held a tug
Of war instead

And when they got
Me straightened out
Straightaway they
Kicked me out

To kick my heels
Back on the shelf,
My Calistoga
And myself

I have checked out
Charity too
It just won’t work
It just won’t do

Likely won’t meet
Men who’re bitchin’
Volunteering
At the kitchen

And I don’t mingle
All that well
With rabidly
Political

Organizers
Rallies of ~
I’m much more into
Bunny love

(Did I admit that
Publicly?
How uncool can I
Hope to be?)

So yeah, I’m thinking:
Dreadful fails
When lobbing
Molotov cocktails

Results of which
Just may not be
Beneficial
Conducively

Causing me
To have to hide,
In fear of life,
From my own side

Whose pals, though I
Would not admit it,
From my stupid
Short lob bit it…

So to the drawing
Board we’re back!
How am I ever
Gonna hack

This thing, o’er which
Ecstatic be
Doctors:
“Senior Activity” ?!?

*****

This poet/editor is physically disabled, and lives at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level.

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