Septuagenarian’s Calculus Anticipating President Trump’s Inaugural
No though my baggy heart’ll perhaps be around for a few more
Super Bowls, likely it won’t to vote vs. POTUS XLV’s reelection.
Yes for now I will keep going to some dentist every six months
but decide probably not to have my rotator cuff fixed at least yet.
No more colonoscopies twice a decade but do count me in
for those ninety pills to get rid of such yucky toenail funguses.
Yes I pledge to keep visiting my 101 1/2 year-old Russian mother
each week but decide nyet to become closer to an only sibling.
No more shaving daily except doing it just when I choose —
and then only with Gillette Foamy which reminds us of Daddy.
Yes I shall keep momentary poetic licenses plus get a permit for
guns soas we can all stalk this unpresidented Potemkin Donald.
No more weekend dinners with the wife’s newest best friend
or her enraged husband unless they wanna smoke marijuana.
Yes I’ll keep maintaining bad habits since back from Nam
but decide this isn’t quite the right time for Methadone or Putin…
A disputatious physician who generally didn’t care for old people,
I never knew why they got so much depression till becoming one.
By Gerard Sarnat
Biography:
Gerard Sarnat’s been nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Prize. He’s authored four collections: HOMELESS CHRONICLES (2010), Disputes (2012), 17s (2014) and Melting The Ice King (2016) which included work published in Gargoyle, Lowestoft, American Journal of Poetry and Tishman Review plus was featured in Songs of Eretz, Avocet, LEVELER, tNY, StepAway, Bywords, Floor Plan. Dark Run, Scarlet Leaf, Good Men Project, Anti-Heroin Chic and Tipton Journal feature sets of new poems. Mount Analogue selected Sarnat’s sequence, KADDISH FOR THE COUNTRY, for distribution as a pamphlet in Seattle on Inauguration Day 2017 as well as the next morning as part of the Washington DC and nationwide Women’s Marches. For Huffington Post/other reviews, readings, publications, interviews; visit GerardSarnat.com. Harvard/Stanford educated, Gerry’s worked in jails, built/staffed clinics for the marginalized, been a CEO of healthcare organizations and Stanford Medical School professor. Married since 1969, he has three children, four grandkids.