KANSAS POEM

Empire poolroom opens at 9, so i'm
killing time at the Merc, deluxe
grocery store/food-art museum for the
health-and-beauty- and nutrition-crazed

comparing prices, all so very high,
while ogling a tall local college town
goddess--LA ain't got nuttin' on lawrence, kansas

at 71 little elvis sings rarely,
half time, half mast, so no old
fashioned cavorting, the biology
running low but the mind
annoyingly
like Yeats in the LAST POEMS
buzzing but athwart time,
he tried the questionable
steinach surgical fix
to get back into the game
but i remain a natural
accepting proper reductions
memory loss, sore knees, nouns
and names disappearing
day by day, nature's design
perhaps even though
the mind always disobeys

copyright © 2017 by patrick o'hayer