"retiree" poems
I have migraine headaches quite often.
Stress could be a factor as
I am a fifty-one year old father of three;
a retiree with too many chits, too many broken nest eggs...
Or it could possibly be my diet:
lots of carbohydrates and complex sugars,
mixed well with large quantities of
diet soda and inactivity...
Or perhaps the trouble lies with allergens;
for my life is inundated with pet dander, pollen,
dust, and grass clippings. Add to that
humidity levels and mold blooms -
who wouldn’t be allergic?
Or maybe it’s just a brain tumor.
Aug 10, 2013
Aug 10, 2013 at 9:39 PM UTC
at breakfast
another hotel restaurant
another choice to be made
of mediocre cooked
or bland continental
a fish bowl
of floor to ceiling
panoramic windows
people-watching
strangers passing
insignificantly through
one another's universes
parents desperate
to negotiate the morning
without a scene
suits with shirt and tie
top buttons undone
for now
retiree couples
happy in each others silence
or those lucky ones
who still find words
when alone together
or the curious
solo diners
alone and lost
in their own thoughts
or striving to hide
how they watch
those others
as they go about
their business
of goodness-knows-what
another banquet shared
unbeknownst to all
in attendance
Jun 11, 2023
Jun 11, 2023 at 4:43 PM UTC
1
if and when I'm retired
I'd expect the world to be kind
and reverential:
so I'd expect when I drive
all people get off the road
when they see me approach;
and at the bank
for all to step aside
for a man whose daily 3-time meals
is nothing but baked beans
2
I'd expect the world to be in awe, and to admire
so the women would say: *
”My, look at this retiree
in his psychedelic shirt and rainbow hat
and his bell-bottoms – real cool, baby”*
and the men would concur, dazzled:
“Owww - this guy, what planet is he from?”
3
and
of course I'd expect
the govt
to send me my cheque
weekly –
no, wait - EFT
will be the way to go;
and the Minister for the Retired
should call me every 30th
to ask if I’d like a raise
4
Also I’d expect
to wake up each morning
to find a cup of coffee ready on my table
and I’d turn to my wife and say:
*“All our lives, you always put the ****** salt
in the coffee”*
And I’d expect her to say
(cos that’s always been the way):
*“If you want sugar in your coffee
fix your ****** coffee yourself!”*
5
And all these things I expect
of the world (except of my wife)
to be kind
and reverential
if and when I’m retired -
but then again, I might just die
at my table at work
after a coffee I fixed myself
Jan 10, 2014
Jan 10, 2014 at 5:50 AM UTC
Every night is Saturday,
Every Monday's Sunday.
If Tuesday is my lieu day,
Then Wednesday is my luncheon meeting.
Thursdays are long coffee breaks,
And Fridays are my Personal Days.
Saturdays are Saturdays,
And ****
It might begin again.
Jul 24, 2015
Jul 24, 2015 at 7:31 AM UTC
The child opens his eyes and sees
a million points of light, each one
an open door to an endless
possibility.
The adolescent opens his eyes
and sees a hundred thousand
points of light, each one a door
to new hopes and adventures
The adult opens his eyes and sees
a few hundred points of light,
each one a door beckoning him
to new experiences
The retiree opens his eyes and sees
perhaps a dozen points of light, each
one a door, welcoming him to well
earned relaxation
The old man opens his eyes
and sees but one dimly lit point
of light coming from a single door
from which he hears his name
gently being called
In trepidation, he closes his eyes
and walks slowly towards that
final door, and nervously passes
over it's dark threshold
When he opens his eyes,
he is a child with a million
points of light before him,
each one an open door to
an endless possibility.
Jan 18, 2011
Jan 18, 2011 at 8:28 PM UTC
Can you hear the sound of the indomitable wind?
It breathes in great heaves
through these sun-beaten leaves,
so boisterous it could flow through ears to the mind.
The eucalyptus’ standing in disciplined lines
seem disturbed by it,
and by the sun that’s lit,
illuminating their aging signs.
From some stark desert some miles to the south
bundles of dry wind roll
up, over, and down this grassy knoll
that unknowingly beleaguers the skin of both
infants playing with their blocks on the lawn
and an older patron
visiting from Dayton
who naturally rises some hours before dawn.
The wind can easily uproot and tear the land apart;
it can dishevel
a garden neat and level,
desolating work to which the retiree gives their heart.
The lascivious sound of the southern wind resonates
past the final palm of the mind
where Wallace Stevens’ bird went blind,
lying low in the recesses of cranial plates.
I say that that sound is no sound at all,
just a loosing slip
of the cerebral lip
attached to a thing abstractly beautiful.
But it sings its song all the same.
Perhaps it is physical.
It’s certainly divisible.
It pierces the sky like a transparent flame.
Sep 7, 2012
Sep 7, 2012 at 3:30 PM UTC
I went to Walmart this morning - yes, it was very brave.
My dander was up - I was on high alert - for active shooters and the unmasked.
Then I saw him! A man on the cookie aisle - he looked like he had the monkeypox!
So I kicked him in the nuts and ran - you can’t be too careful out there.
It turns out that he was just an 80-year-old retiree wearing a polka-dot shirt.
I apologized - from a safe distance - as the paramedics carted him away.
It felt like a close call.
May 25, 2022
May 25, 2022 at 10:10 AM UTC
Everything happens for a reason all must come to an end, it's been long ago since I consider you a friend.
The pain in my heart has turned into fear, I can't imagine life without you near.
More than friends I loved you way too much, I will make you my love and long for your touch.
Uncertainty became difficult to hide how much you meant to me, through persistence and patience I have time I'm a retiree.
I would lean on other friends who showed their concerns to, but my friends I left because I couldn't be away from you.
I guess I just need that one best friend to confide, no matter the difficulty you ignored and put me a side.
I should have known that you wouldn't be like you said, I tried to force you to think like I did but tears fell from my face as if I bled.
However, we're happy once again, and no matter what struggles we had from our pass this can be a new beginning and let's hope it will last.
May 27, 2014
May 27, 2014 at 1:20 AM UTC
It isn't uncommon for war veterans
To meet
In our little log cabins.
Nice gentleman from Tennessee/Air Force
Was in today
With his attentive son.
Marine vet/fort manager
Thanks him for his service
And wanders off.
Air Force retiree
Asks former army ranger
If he's seen the movie
"We were soldiers".
Who replies
I don't have to see it.
I was there.
Aug 25, 2016
Aug 25, 2016 at 6:09 PM UTC