Tuesday poem: The Coming of Age
March 25, 2014
The Coming of Age
Knock knock at the door:
Quiet and insistent.
Not Dickinson’s courtly Death,
taking me for a ride.
No, this is another visitor,
who doesn’t wait for me to answer.
But she leaves three calling cards:
sensible shoes, false teeth,
and a Zimmer frame,
subtle as the Harbour Bridge.
Still young enough, I chase Age
down the curvy street.
I throw the flat shoes at her.
I bite her with the plastic teeth
(puppeted in my hand, please note).
And the Zimmer frame?
It holds up my climbing rose.
How long, though, before
I cling, and shuffle, oh so slow,
with carefully engineered stride?
P.S. Cottier
I’ve been writing a few poems about age recently. This one was first published in The Mozzie, Queensland.
Age doesn’t worry me that much, really. So long as it affects me in no way whatsoever…
The Tuesday Poets have discovered the secret of eternal yoof. Press this feather and so will you. (Note: no promises will be fulfilled. But there will be poems.)
PS Cottier 
‘carefully engineered stride’…creepy, imminent, love it!
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Thanks Michele. The topic ‘The coming of age’ was given by the journal, The Mozzie, and I just took it literally.
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Greatly enjoying the Tuesday poems. I’m thinking of a Zimmer frame sculpture now.
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A sculpture of a really old person made of Zimmer frames, perhaps…
Glad you’re enjoying the Tuesday Poems, Sarah, and great to catch up on Saturday.
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I’d like to join you in chasing it away too. I just might need my own Zimmer frame to do so!
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I think I’m going to have to add ‘Zimmer frame’ as a tag, as that is what everyone is talking about!
Thanks Norah.
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Isn’t it interesting that others don’t always respond in the way you might have expected? They take up an idea and run with it, sometimes in a completely different direction. Sounds like this is maybe what you, also, have done in writing your poem. I like to take the unusual or unexpected angle when I am given a prompt – helps to see the humour in everything! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
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Thanks again Norah. I certainly try to emphasise humor in some of my poetry.
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