Behind

Usually, I fall behind
Where I’m supposed to be.
One step back (or more), I am
In perpetuity.

Papers pose in giant piles,
Awaiting my perusal.
All entreaties for removal
Meet with my refusal.

Clothes stack up in massive heaps
In hushed anticipation –
Will the washer or the drawers
Be their next destination?

Catalogues lay scattershot,
Their pages marked and folded.
If I were a child, I would expect
That I’d be scolded.

Luckily, my favorite shows
I summon on-demand.
Watching them the first time ‘round
I never could have planned.

Still, I get to everything;
I’ve got it all controlled,
Although I’m often reading news
That’s two or three weeks old!

Be Lucky!

In every single card she sent,
My husband’s mom advised,
“Be lucky!” but her message
Wasn’t quite as advertised.

For luck is nothing we can plan;
It finds us or it doesn’t.
When we look back, we clearly see
Our fortune was or wasn’t.

So when I’d notice her command,
Before she’d signed her name,
It made me wonder where the luck was
I was meant to claim.

In life, you’ve got to have some grit
Or fortitude or pluck;
The one thing you can never count on
Is elusive luck.

Lincoln

Saw the movie “Lincoln”
And it brought the man to life.
Sally Field was also
Most impressive as his wife.

All we know of Lincoln’s
From his writings and the news.
Books and poems abound on him,
Revealing different views.

Still, the figure on the screen,
Day-Lewis in the flesh,
Made Abe Lincoln so alive,
Each utterance seemed fresh.

His mannerisms, posture, speech
And everything he said
Infused him with such life, it hurt
To later see him dead.

I lived through JFK’s demise,
With all its added mystery,
But Lincoln always was, to me,
On money or in history.

Yet now I’ve gained a new respect
And found myself connecting
To this stirring leader, thanks to
Perfect acting and directing.

Holding Pattern

The pilot said we’d be delayed –
A holding pattern loomed;
But being stuck in limbo
Doesn’t always mean you’re doomed.

Though opportunities might hide
When you feel mired in muck,
You’re also stopped from sliding down
And getting truly stuck.

A holding pattern simply means
You circle in the skies.
You can’t make any progress
But there’s time to improvise.

And so you do the best you can
Until the word arrives
That you’ve been cleared to land and then
Your energy revives.

At times it helps to know
A holding pattern’s what you’re in;
For when it ends you’re glad you’ve left
The rut where you have been.

Senility

My aunt remembers details
From her life so long ago,
Yet ask her what she had for lunch
And she'll say, "I don't know."

She knew her old address and all
The neighbors who lived near.
Her memory from eighty years ago
Was crystal clear.

Yet she could not recall the fact
She'd talked about her youth,
Repeating stories umpteen times -
Believe me, that's the truth.

We listened and responded
Like each telling was the first.
Within my aunt's declining brain,
The time has been reversed.

But still, we had a lovely time -
We laughed and reminisced.
Those tales from days long past to me
Are so hard to resist.

The mind's a most peculiar thing -
As brain cells up and die,
We travel back to how we were,
The present day a lie.

Tortoise

Come wrestle with a gator!
Said the poster at the fair.
With tape around its mouth, it looked
Pathetic in its lair.

Yet in a cage adjoining it,
A tortoise ambled 'round,
Its movements sure and steady,
One foot lifting off the ground.

With claws extended, it appeared
To glide on tippy toes;
Its ancient eyes gazed straight ahead,
A true reptilian pose.

The children leaned and stroked its shell.
It didn't seem to mind,
Although I'm sure it would have liked
A stroke from its own kind.

That tortoise kept on moving,
Though perhaps to help prepare
For a coming-soon encounter
With an unsuspecting hare!

Different Lives

People lead such different lives,
It's sometimes quite a shock
To hear the tales of souls
Where opportunity won't knock.

We live in our complacent worlds
While others claw and suffer;
And when we get a glimpse, we see
What's there behind our buffer.

For what we take for granted
Isn't even on their screen.
The lucky have, the poor do not;
There's not much in-between.

And money's not the answer;
It's a case of grit and pluck.
Determination keeps the wheels
In motion, plus some luck.

Yet hearing others' stories
Makes it obvious who thrives - 
The ones who work their asses off
To elevate their lives.