a TV program about how eighty
is the new seventy, which
long ago became the new sixty,
It features interviews
with octogeniarian hikers,
sky-divers (as if that were
a reasonable activity at any age),
as if every person that age were off
doing daring things, more exciting than
their lives ever were before.
Nowhere do they mention
what happens when the legs go,
the mind begins to drift, the world
reduced to a day room and a bedroom
shared with a stranger-roommate
who talks non-stop or not at all,
who sleep-walks or screams in the night.
My great-grandchildren,
those I want most now to know
speak a foreign language
of bytes and tweets.
They file in each holiday, looking at me
with feigned interest
and urgent curiosity,
children on a field trip to
a museum of ancient history.
And what about time?
Will it stop for me suddenly
one day, or is it a stream
my soul steps in and out of?
In the day room,
another program has started.
Author Bio:
Anita McKay's poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including Chronogram, Rose & Thorn Journal, Bella Literary Magazine and miller’s pond. She is an avid traveler who enjoys seeing new places, learning the history firsthand, enjoying the food, and meeting people. The most significant part of travel for her is the encounters with people, including herself.