A Day in The Life of Elderhood
By Carl Kopman
Less is more…
A designation …A resignation…
That I am
in a state of…
What’s it called…
artificial insemination
No nO No
suspended animation… this brain fog
of forgotten words,
frozen in a glacial moment
Of of what’s the word…
… paternity…
No nO NO
A glacial moment of eternity
As in here I stand,
18 years from my own centennial,
Or millennial…
I mean… perennial…
…this perennial silenced pause in conversation …
Lost within a loss for words
Perspiration No exasperation,
where deep within the temporal lobe
blankness meets a desperate probe
What’s the word… oh… what’s the word
Misogyny…
Penelope?
NO….Catastrophe!
No nO No….. Epiphany,
yes Epiphany
I’ve had an epiphany. …. …..
Now what was it again… ?
Carl Kopman
Born 1942
At twenty-five I was a confused law school drop-out sharing an apartment in Greenwich Village with a lovely young woman and her monkey, working as a desk clerk at a seedy hotel off Times Square by day, driving a cab at night in an era of Beatnicks and Hippies and Yippees: A Steppenwolf looking for the Prophet riding the “Razor’s Edge” between “On The Road” and “The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test.”
Advice! Sure! Hang in there, Kid. Be kind to yourself. There’s a better world a’coming and it’s just around the next crooked corner.
Barbara Ridley - April 25, 2024 @ 12:25 pm
What a great issue you have put together here!
Barbara Ridley - April 25, 2024 @ 12:13 pm
I love this Carl…your use of the fumbling for words in a “brain fog”. But you aren’t lost for words at all!
Margaret Kokka - April 20, 2024 @ 6:08 pm
Carl, you have a wonderous knack of plsying with words anf taking us along to share the wonder. As always always a treat!
Karen Hunt - April 18, 2024 @ 11:41 am
Your brain is still working just fine if you can create a wonderful poem like this and put together such a fun, insightful, cathartic, and completely enjoyable issue on a topic we’d all rather avoid if given the option. Thanks for including me in the adventure.
Bob Pizzi - April 15, 2024 @ 5:19 pm
As always, Big Bro,
I always love your playfulness in this case, with precious nouns, ‘ion’s, ity’s, ial’s, gene’s, phe’s, anuy’s. Loved it!!
David Schweidel - April 14, 2024 @ 4:40 pm
A song, a lament, an homage, a joke – I guess it’s your poetry, Carl! Way to go!
Mardith - April 10, 2024 @ 12:25 am
Carl, this is very funny and of course, all too true. The issue is wonderful. I guess less really is more. Bravo to you and your daughter-in-law. Thank you for including me.
Mardith - April 10, 2024 @ 12:24 am
Carl, this is very funny and of course, all too true. The issue is wonderful. I guess less really is more. Bravo to you and your daughter-in-law.
J D - April 9, 2024 @ 10:29 pm
Ha!
Been there, done that. A friend used to tell me: “Nouns are the first to go.”
Love it! Thanks.
And thanks for all.
Cliff Weingus - April 9, 2024 @ 5:20 pm
Carl, this is really funny and so true.
Jim - April 8, 2024 @ 4:29 pm
I can’t count the number of times I was groping for just the right word, in whatever form it was inhabiting.
Carl, you’ve nailed it (er, fastened…er, fixed….er, stapled…er, …..aw, you know).
Jim Richter
Zachari Cahn - April 8, 2024 @ 11:33 am
LOVE this one. Disdainful… nO, no, NO… Playful.
Repugnant… No, nO, NO…. Poignant.
Kenny…. No, nO, NO.. Zachari.
Susan - April 8, 2024 @ 8:24 am
Fun!
Lois B. - April 6, 2024 @ 9:25 pm
That crooked corner may be tricky to negotiate if your dog wants to go straight. What then?
bruce Bagnell - April 6, 2024 @ 10:27 am
The humor of age increases along with the malaprops. The associative brain outweighing objective output = creativity. What an age!
Duff Reiter - April 6, 2024 @ 9:18 am
A wise and witty take on facing the inevitable, or is it ineluctable? Certainly the unavoidable changes brought on by an aging body and mind. Carl, you are in fine form as a poet and as a philosopher.
Diane - April 6, 2024 @ 8:41 am
Thank you!!!
Daniel Danzig - April 6, 2024 @ 8:27 am
This is hysterical, and a reality I quite understand. Classic Kopman wit and word play!
Sue A - April 6, 2024 @ 8:16 am
Charming.
Funny.
Just like the author.
Happy Birthday! Mr. Carl.
♡♡
Sue
Martina Reaves - April 6, 2024 @ 7:29 am
Carl, Wonderful and hilarious and so so so true! This issue is wonderful, wonderful!