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The Four Ages of Man
by Nicholas Lancret
National Gallery of
Art, London
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We all begin aging at birth, but don’t realize
it until we are older. Many twelve-year-olds want to be eighteen, with a driver’s
license and a lot more freedom to decide on their own activities. Some
sixty-year-old have that same wish—“if only I could go back to when I was
eighteen, without all these responsibilities.” Some cultures honor the elders;
others seem to worship youth. British poet Ruth Fainlight wrote, “to
have faith / that you'll be adored as an ancient / might make it all
worthwhile” (from “Ageing." See the first link below).
I like the light touch in the following poem:
Sixty-one
monday I crossed off cowboy
tuesday fireman
wednesday president
thursday I couldn’t find the list
friday my own fishing show
saturday catching for the cardinals
sunday I took a nap
sorry
I had to
the moons flew by too soon
~ Bruce Dethlefsen
From Unexpected Shiny
Things (Cowfeather Press, 2011). Used by permission of the author
Dethlefsen’s poem
is a list poem, as is the following:
August
. . .and when it is August
you
can have it August and abundantly so.
Barbara
Ras
In August you
can’t have trillium
waking the dark
floor of the woods,
wobbling fawns
suckling mother’s milk.
You can’t have
snow birds at the feeder.
But when it is
August you can have heat shimmering
from the lake, the
plop of bass jumping,
concentric circles
spreading out across the water.
When it is August
you can have corn
steamed on the
cob, rows of yellow teeth
drizzled with
butter. You can have blueberries,
plump and sweet
and purple, painting your lips,
painting your
lover’s lips as you plop them
in his mouth one
by one.
In August you
can’t have icicles
or make angels in
the snow,
pull each other in
sleds,
tracking smooth
white surfaces
but you can have
cousins rolling down the hill
with you if you
roll back the clock
to the year you
were seven, cousins
with homemade ice
cream dribbling
from sticky chins,
swiping treats
from Grandmother’s
cookie jar,
climbing the apple
tree, singing Bible school songs,
chasing lightning
bugs,
playing hide and
seek as dusk
lays magic shadows
on the lawn.
You can have your
uncle again
spreading blankets
near a fertile field
so you can all lie
down
beneath a million
glittering stars.
When it is August
you can have tiger lilies,
the orange of
their silent horns
louder than sound,
setting the garden afire
with color, the
gladiolus standing proud
on their tall
stems, afraid of nothing.
And when it is
August, you can have
one last dance
with summer,
it’s willowy green
gown
whispering through
the grass,
one last dance to
the music of bluebird and robin.
One last dance of
wild abandon.
~ Wilda Morris
First published by
Second Wind (Summer 2005).
"August," as you probably realized, is a poem about the season of the year, but also, metaphorically, about a season of life.
Many wonderful
poems have been written about aging—not all are list poems. Some celebrate the “golden
years.” Some lament the impact of aging on the body or the approach of death.
This month, though, the focus is on poems that celebrate aspects of aging, or
look at it in a positive or even humorous way. Check out the links below for
more poetry on aging. Some of the poems in the last link are not great poetry,
but they may give you a laugh—and we all need a few extra laughs this spring!
Read, and then take out your pen, pencil, or computer and write your own poem
about aging.
Links:
> A collection
of poems about aging by contemporary British poets, with examples:
>A brief essay
on poems about aging, with examples and links:
>Another
interesting essay with examples and links:
>Poems about
aging: https://www.librarything.com/topic/18341
>Humorous
poetry about aging: https://www.dennydavis.net/poemfiles/aging2b.htm
The May Challenge: NOTE
SLIGHT CHANGE IN THE GUIDELINES BELOW
Write a poem about
aging—a poem that celebrates aging or looks at it with a bit of humor. No poems
tragic poems this month.
Your poem may be
free verse or formal. If you use a form, please identify the form when you
submit your poem.
Title your poem
unless it is a form that does not use titles (don’t follow Emily Dickinson’s
practice on that!). Single-space. Note that the blog format does not
accommodate long lines; if they are used, they have to be broken in two, with
the second part indented (as in the poem “Lilith,” one of the May 2018
winners), or the post has to use small print.
You may submit a
published poem if you retain copyright,
but please include publication data. This applies to poems published in books,
journals, newspapers, or on the Internet. Poems already used on this blog are not eligible to
win, but the poets may submit a different poem, unless the poet has been a
winner the last three months.
The deadline is
May 15. Poems submitted
after the deadline will not be considered. There is no charge to enter, so
there are no monetary rewards; however, winners are published on this blog.
Please don’t stray too far from “family-friendly” language (some children and
teens read this blog). No simultaneous submissions, please. You should know by
the end of the month whether or not your poem will be published. Decision of
the judge or judges is final.
The poet retains
copyright on each poem. If a previously unpublished poem wins and is published
elsewhere later, please give credit to this blog. I do not register copyright
with the US copyright office, but by US law, the copyright belongs to the
writer unless the writer assigns it to someone else.
If the same poet
wins three months in a row (which has not happened thus far), he or she will be
asked not to submit the following two months.
How to Submit Your Poem: NOTE SLIGHT CHANGE IN THE
GUIDELINES
Send one poem only to wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”). Put “May Poetry Challenge Submission” FOLLOWED BY YOUR NAME in the subject line of your email. Include a brief bio that can be printed with your poem if you are a winner this month. Please put your name and bio UNDER the poem in your email. If the poem has been published before, please put that information UNDER the poem also. NOTE: If you sent your poem to my other email address, or do not use the correct subject line, the poem may get lost and not be considered for publication. Do not submit poems as PDF files.
Send one poem only to wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net (substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”). Put “May Poetry Challenge Submission” FOLLOWED BY YOUR NAME in the subject line of your email. Include a brief bio that can be printed with your poem if you are a winner this month. Please put your name and bio UNDER the poem in your email. If the poem has been published before, please put that information UNDER the poem also. NOTE: If you sent your poem to my other email address, or do not use the correct subject line, the poem may get lost and not be considered for publication. Do not submit poems as PDF files.
Submission of a
poem gives permission for the poem to be posted on the blog if it is a winner,
so be sure that you put your name (exactly as you would like it to appear if
you do win) at the end of the poem.
Poems may be
pasted into an email or sent as an attachment (Doc, Docx, rich text or plain
text; no pdf files, please). or both. Please
do not indent the poem or center it on the page. It helps if you submit the poem in the format used on the blog
(Title and poem left-justified; title in bold (not all in capital letters); your
name at the bottom of the poem). Also, please do not use multiple spaces
instead of commas in the middle of lines. I have no problem with poets using
that technique (I sometimes do it myself). However I have difficulty getting
the blog to accept and maintain extra spaces.
Poems shorter than
40 lines are generally preferred but longer poems will be considered.
Bio:
Bruce Dethlefsen served as poet laureate of Wisconsin for
2011-2012. He is the author of five poetry collections and is a popular
workshop leader. Two of his poems have been featured on Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac. Bruce is also a
musician, and has played with several bands. He sings and plays both bass and
percussion. You can read more about him and find out how to order his books at https://www.brucedethlefsen.com/.
Wilda Morris Wilda Morris, Workshop Chair of Poets and Patrons of Chicago and a
past President of the Illinois State Poetry Society, has been published in
numerous anthologies, webzines, and print publications, including The Ocotillo Review, Turtle
Island Quarterly, Li Poetry, Puffin Circus, and Journal of Modern
Poetry. She has won awards for formal and free verse and haiku. She was
given the Founders’ Award by the National Federation of State Poetry Societies
in 2019. Much of the work on her second poetry book, Pequod Poems: Gamming with Moby-Dick (published in 2019), was
written during a Writer’s Residency on Martha’s Vineyard. Pequod Poems can be ordered from the publisher or amazon.com, or,
if you would like an autographed copy, email the author at wildamorris[at]ameritech[dot]net
(substitute the @ sign for “at” and a . for “dot”).
© Wilda Morris
