Neither a pantoum nor a poem about politics..

This is fifty-three
It’s been that long since the moment
when I became me

Some of the hair is grey
the eyesight has started to go—
Actually, so has the hair…

Everything’s a bit thicker
above the belt
and the knees aren’t what they used to be

(well, I just assume they’re not
seeing as how I don’t run or play basketball—
or do anything of the sort, really)

I avoid salt, corn syrup, and artificial sweeteners
and just gave up alcohol
in favor of coffee—

not lattes, mochas, or macchiatos
but regular coffee
from a K-cup® machine

(with one of those reusable cups
because the standard K-cup®
is not recyclable and will end up in landfills)

I have decent car insurance
and crappy health insurance
with vision but no dental

(even then, it will pay for
an eye exam every two years
but doesn’t cover the cost of glasses)

I do freelance work
and make almost no money
but I still owe $721 on my tax return

I live in a one-bedroom apartment
with two cats
and three area rugs (see cats)

I have a 40-inch TV that’s ten years old
it’s bigger than a lot of the new models
but it still works just fine

I listen to thirty-year-old music
hear nothing above 12 kHz
and listen to cassettes in my car

because the CD player is broken
and the replacement broke
a few months after I got it

I have fillings and a crown
but my teeth are otherwise in good shape
though still a bit crooked

even though I had braces when I was a kid
(which is why I will never have
more than twenty-four teeth)

I married my high-school girlfriend
when I was forty
after not having seen her for twenty years

We got divorced after nine
I bought an iPhone to celebrate
which I still have

but I got rid of the friend
who was making me crazy
and most of my CDs

I began writing poems again
when I needed a project
now it’s mostly what I do

though there’s really
no money in it at all
It’s just something I have to do

I’m largely invisible
when it comes to women
who aren’t already married

but I can understand
that broke, middle-age poets
aren’t exactly sex symbols

I have a lounge sofa
that I use as a bed
(It’s orange!)

I think too much
and don’t go out enough
(though that means

I save a lot of money on gas
because I don’t drive much
and live near an ARCO® station)

I go to bed around midnight
and haven’t had an uninterrupted
night’s sleep in several years

because I have cats
(see area rugs)
and sometimes fall asleep

with the TV on—
which does weird things
to my dreams sometimes

I get up around five a.m.
feed the cats and make coffee—
which makes me sleepy (go figure)—

then I go about the day
doing what I do
until it’s time to go to sleep

so I can get up
and do it all again
the next day

This is my life
This is me
This is fifty-three

(16 March 2016)