UNKNOWABLE

UNKNOWABLE

Your pulse quickens.

Your blood thickens.

You slip and then you fall, 

Hard against a wall.

You then stumble backwards onto the floor, 

,

Your balance not so sure anymore,

You crash into a bedroom mirror,

Your road to glory drawing nearer.

What you know you must do is stark,

Traversing broken glass  in the dark,

Try to crawl toward the phone on the floor and look, 

Should I call 911 or film this for Facebook?

Why, call 911 of course, are you dull?

Do you have half a brain in your thickened skull?

Do not insult my brain please,

It is riddled with disease.

Besides if you're so smart, 

You could have saved us with your art.

I weary of this said Mr. God,  

 

You are getting tiresome and quite odd.

He pushes some buttons and pulls some knobs.

You try to stand back up but falter,

Falling prostrate on the altar

Slipping into the pull of the unknowable.

-Bruce Potts 

Copyright 2026

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

-

DECREPITUDE

 DECREPITUDE

Tsk, tsk, you're a fall risk,

So hang your head down low;

Try to hold onto the railings,

Steady as you go.

Your legs like painful candlesticks,

Burnt down to their precious wicks.

Use the walker to keep steady,

Have a wheelchair at the ready.

Lest you fall and cause an awful wound,

Blood spurting from your head,

Better yet to hedge your bets

And hibernate in bed.

Oh drat, it should be old hat,

The rigidity and the limp,

22 years with this disease,

Your life has kindly spent.

Old age may have its pulchritude,

Its lessons for the soul, 

But allow me a bit of latitude.

While I adjust my attitude,

To one that shows more gratitude,

For the years have taken toll.

Tsk, tsk,

Is that your breakfast,

That's fallen in your lap.

Your arms wooden and rigid,

You fear that they could snap.

So spill at breakfast, spill at snack time,

Spill, spill, spill,

Bonus points if you spill at dinner,

It lends a certain thrill.

Time was you could charm a crowd with a gift for fiery speech,

Now you humbly mumble,

And fall into the breach.

Tsk, tsk, your walk was brisk,

But now it's slowed to just a crawl.

Medicine's now hit or miss,

Your back's against a wall.

And perhaps it's your own ineptitude,

That's fostered this decrepitude,

Who can really say?

But limp into the fading sun,

And live to fight another day.

-Bruce Potts

Copyright 2023

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

TAKEN DOWN BY A WALKER

TAKEN DOWN BY A WALKER

Fell backwards, and hit my head on a walker,

That leans against my bedroom wall.

Even a simpleton would see,

The absurdity of it all.

Felled by an assistive device,

How the back of my head did ache,

Not to mention my hip for heaven's sake.

To be fair I have a snazzier walker that I do use,

Kind of like a baby stroller with wheels,

This other walker is a savage foe,

My dignity it steals,

Jealous to be on standby should the newer walker fail,

It sulks just like a spoiled child,

My Achille's heel, my great white whale.

And that is not the worst of it,

I have fallen while using a cane,

Another assistive device to which I assign the blame.

Tis only in my imagination that walking is easy,

Not one foot at a time nice and breezy.

Into the battle each day I go, with hip protector on,

Fighting with the balance shot, an easy stride now gone.

When did one foot in front of the other become such a chore?

Something taken for granted when walking out the door.

Taken down by a walker in the prime of life,

The irony it cuts and slices like a knife.

It is not fair nor is it nice,

To be harmed alas by a helping device.

Perhaps since it's October, I've had an early Halloween,

Spooked by Mr. Parkinson and his cruel regime.

Nothing left to do but grin and bear and soldier on,

Thankful I've thus far broken ribs, and not a leg or arm.

Grateful in knowing that it could have been much worse,

No blood spilt because my head is hard.

No ambulance called or hearse.

Perhaps I'll put the culprit walker in the closet dark,

Leave it to ponder what it's done, vicious as a shark.

Fell backwards and hit my head on a walker,

That leans against my bedroom wall.

Even a simpleton must see the absurdity of it all.

-Bruce Potts

Copyright 2022

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED