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Bodies Approaching Rest


by Gary Hardaway


Morphology

He hates this body no less now
than he did at 14 for its pudginess
and the hair that can't conform

to the elegant standards set by peers.
He hate the tags, fatty deposits, and the bulges
whiskey and wine leave

after the brief relief they bring.
Aging is a special challenge
for those perennially depressed.


As You Grow More Deaf

When you can't quite hear
the poems whispered by
the random voices in your head,

you know that other ears, younger
and more sensitive, can hear them,
however softly breathed.

So, you breathe your own,
eager to continue with something
the indifferent page will bear.


End Game

Enthusiasms wane,
focus fades,
appetites wither

as the world
you still embrace
erases its maps.

The pieces disappear, one by one.
The almost solitary king
considers its resignation.
Endcap