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Per Diem Archive: D. Gershator June 2014, Growing Older

Growing Older

Do we rage like Dylan Thomas or go laughingly into the final stretch of our universal journey: sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything? There’s plenty of room in a short poem on aging for humor, pathos, joy, pain, shock, awe, and a great deal of wry reflection. From the first day of school to the last estate sale (baby teeth a bargain!), here are thirty haiku moments.

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Author: Robert F. Mainone
first day of school
her brother's backpack
with legs
Author: Tom Painting
solitaire
my widowed father
lost in the shuffle
Author: Michael Ketchek
my father
losing his memory––asks me
not to forget him
Author: Carolyn Hall
childhood scrapbook
the life expectancy
of Scotch tape
Author: Kristen Deming
funeral––
my grandchild tells me
I'm next
Author: John Stevenson
unspoken question
an old man’s 
back
Author: 'Haiku Elvis' (Carlos Colón)
hole in my hourglass i slip in a little more sand
Author: Charlotte Digregorio
forty-fifth reunion...
seniors
again
Author: Robert Epstein
from a certain angle
my shadow casts
a full head of hair
Author: Billie Wilson
62 candles––
such beautiful memories
of things I regret
Author: David Cobb
wearing the new glasses
I don't seem to hear properly
either
Author: Johnette Downing
polka dots
farther apart
at the hips
Author: George Swede
I wipe the mirror
the face looks
even older
Author: Diane Mayr
after 40 years...
still the dreams of
being late
Author: Scott Mason
old pond
another floater
in my right eye
Author: Billie Dee
more and more
less and less
hair
Author: Thomas Michael Tico
shrinking
now my son
measures me
Author: Ann Schwader
when did it start
to be about loss
Christmas lights
Author: Joan Prefontaine
dementia unit
the old therapy dog
remembers everyone
Author: Stewart C. Baker
all the things
I said I’d do...
winter sunset
Author: Robert Witmer
spring cleaning
nowhere to put
the kids' childhood
Author: Stephen A. Peters
class reunion
the list
a bit shorter
Author: Gayle Bull
train whistle
the retired conductor
checks his watch
Author: Pamela Miller Ness
Alzheimer’s ward
the faded blue number 
on a resident’s arm
Author: John J. Dunphy
estate sale
a jar of baby teeth
for 25¢
Author: Nick Avis
    all the candles
        with one breath
the flame in her eyes
Author: H. Gene Murtha
forty-six years
writing my name
yellow in snow
Author: Bill Kenney
     palmist
reading the lines
   in her face
Author: w. f. owen
summer heat
I take away
dad's car keys
Author: Michael Dylan Welch
visiting mother––
again she finds
my first grey hair
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