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T.O.A.S.T.: Timeworn Old Age Senior Tales
Literary Nook
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Posted on Nov 22 2019
Stranded on Hippocampus Highway
And there you are stranded on Hippocampus Highway
inside your brain casing trying to fix a forgotten flat tire
and nobody believes you when you say I’ll do it my way
inside your neural synapses need an immediate rewire.
That common old age sign you saw and knew said NO EXIT
you saw it coming as a problem for years but decided to ignore
now you have a memory problem and just can’t seem to fix it
overflowing used memory banks help you continue to explore.
There goes your recent memory, for just a second, but fleeting
now its lost in your gray matter, a ‘grave’ gray area for sure
even though now to yourself you keep on constantly repeating
you just don’t know how long a particular memory will endure.
Get off hippocampus highway, take a short cut, road less traveled
that is if your memory map fibers are not completely unraveled.
Another Breakdown on Hippocampus Highway
So you forgot how to do that but remember how to do this
Only yesterday you did it all without thinking and at ease
You can still get dressed for church but forgot how to kiss
remembering your best friend’s name is giving you a tease.
Alive and well you tell all your friends and well wishers
having lots of retirement fun and enjoying my life
but deep in those cerebrum and cerebellum fissures
you’ve forgotten the names of your kids and your wife.
Keeping busy, reading about particle theory and black holes
just can never remember the number of miles in a light year
whether it was to Newport or Newcastle you carried the coals
and how many prongs an antelope has above and behind its ears.
That’s OK at least you remember how to brush your teeth
you just forgot they are false and hard gums are underneath.
***
Joey aka Pepe Batbon is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is a sonnet practitioner who enjoys stargazing.
