Here and there

by Craig Kirchner

We all know here.

It’s there that is a mystery.

Here is usually about 2 cubic yards,

including aura and twirl,

you occupy now, this instant.

Hello there. There, there,

don’t take this so seriously.

There, I told you it was green,

you see everything as blue.

There will be a consequence.

At, or to that place, at that moment,

destinations, now, past and future.

There becomes the passage,

the next room, the appointment,

that trip to Europe, or the road not taken.

Our journey is about being there

for someone, there for life.

Time is quickening, there

are new limits kicking in,

the leash is shortening.

There’s a drive to Pawleys coming,

we’ll be there days with good friends,

the beach, the sunrise, great conversation,

and then mostly we’ll be here

musing our journey and one another. 

Update to my dear friend Pat

who has a signature

at the bottom of her emails

~ Pat

Getting old is a thrill a minute!

by Craig Kirchner

I’m sitting waiting to see my dermatologist.

I’m three weeks removed from Mohs

and nine stitches on my Frankenstein temple,

and now need a small thing looks

like a tiny pinecone zapped.

My forehead hairline is a desert that will

now have a frozen oasis. I’m told everyone

in Florida has skin cancer—get over it.

Rolling my tongue,

like a snake curling through smooth rocks,

over crowns on three molars,

all capped in the last 9 months.

My teeth are crumbling like my joints.

Gel shots in both knees

as soon as this skin thing is over,

should keep me walking until Christmas.

I do Wordle and Soduko every morning,

not to be competitive with Dee,

or for the acceleration of getting, it in two,

but as a gauge, an alarm, I hope will go off,

will register, wake me to coming dementia,

when I can’t properly place vowels,

the numbers, and then the words

like I’m attempting to put together now.

Craig Kirchner thinks of poetry as hobo art, loves storytelling and the aesthetics of the paper and pen. He has had two poems nominated for the Pushcart, and has a book of poetry, Roomful of Navels. After a writing hiatus he was recently published in Decadent Review,  Wild Violet, Last Leaves, Literary Heist, Ariel Chart, Cape Magazine, Flora Fiction, Young Ravens, Chiron Review, Yellow Mama, Valiant Scribe and several dozen other journals.