01/22/09VestigeLaughter -- may it be the final reception, the song that ushers the end, my enduring requiem. When old age renders an encompassing fading, when the mind is but a string of shivered echoes in the interim of counted breaths unadorned, bereft of words, I hope that however sparse the remainder of substance would cling to accompany my mind through the whirr and blur of letting go, I could still firmly preserve the one memory -- the last I would need to recognize the tilt, list and lilt of the sound I have known to be my own voice: that once, many times it danced, streaking chords of homespun joy. 06/10/06 (now reposted) ======================================== A Night of Payment Our dear loanshark, eternally you impose a staggered payment scheme on all of us walking debts. We borrow what we forget you own; we owe interest with laughter and jest as currency, and for all the audacity we muster with age we never can tell when the next payment is due. I, for one, am silenced for the time being and no richer than the night that rents its coat from you. 02/13/08 (now reposted) * Mortality has been a recurring theme in my poetry, over the years. Not that I'm suicidal, perpetually depressed or goth-inclined. (grin) It's just that, well, this is a topic that's inevitably linked to most philosophical discussions and writings. My interest in philosophy, then, I reckon, is the key to why mortality (as an umbrella subject) keeps popping in my head when I write. And, given that I value variety as regards my poems, I try to make sure that, despite the number of 'death pieces' I write, no two are really similar (with regard to voice/mood, content/story, etc.). Which brings us to the two poems above -- a couple of old ones, with a touch of generality, both mentioning "laughter," and differing in, well... (I leave that up to reader interpretation). Cheers. =====================
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