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I Failed
I failed so dramatically most early days
I failed horribly in most critical ways
I failed to use schooling at each different age
I failed in the waste of my talents each stage
I failed with some friendships in whole or in part
I failed big time with enterprise “of the heart’
I failed due to deficits of self-esteem
I failed due to not living life with a dream
I failed from the frequency of denigrations
I failed from commensurate low expectations
I failed and the failing bred feeling defeated
And all of that failure is why I’ve succeeded.
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Benefits of Older Age
I’m grateful for the benefits of age.
The heightened skill at navigating stress,
Life’s challenges met better at this stage.
Awareness of what we should most address,
Less focus on the things we can’t control,
More tolerance from knowledge we possess.
Our peace of mind now made the foremost goal.
Success comes from inside, not others’ takes,
To our own thoughts we give the foremost role.
Enhanced self-confidence a prime life makes,
No longer trapped inside a mental cage.
Ability to love for others’ sakes.
The ignorance from which we’ve turned the page.
I’m grateful for the benefits of age.
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Technical Support
If you turn on your computer,
But then nothing works as planned,
You can call the troubleshooter,
Whom you pray you’ll understand.
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Loony Lefty Language
The loony leftists always can
Make some new crazed assertion,
A former “mother” now is an
“Inseminated person.”
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Russel Winick recently started writing poetry after ending a long legal career. He resides in Naperville, Illinois.
Delightful as always with appropriate titles along with trenchant and meaningful endings.
Thanks Roy. I had never written a terza rima closed sonnet before. Didn’t even know what it was. Evan’s book came in handy!
Alas, I’m still awaiting that bestseller – but I’m still in the mix.
Re. benefits of old age, some of the junior winners of the 2024 SCP annual competition had a different spin on ageing that was quite refreshing. Check out G. Cheung and Rachel’s poems, especially Rachel’s.
https://staging.classicalpoets.org/the-2024-scp-international-high-school-poetry-competition-winners-continued/
Troubleshooting? I’m currently going round in circles with Kindle Direct Publishing.
As for loony language, it seems to work both ways. Look at the Jan 6th insurgents being dubbed ‘hostages’. Or…
The loony rightists always can
Make some crazed assertion;
The Gulf of Mexico’s still there,
Not Donald’s weird perversion.
I hope you get your bestseller soon.
here’s a recent facebook post:
O to be a total failure,
O to fail both up and down,
and around and back and over,
with a circum-smuckulent sound.
Russel, your poems brightened what was otherwise a somewhat downer of a day.
Cheryl, I’m sorry about the downer, but am happy that my humble work was able to brighten it.
Russel, I was just reading an article about civilization, which stated that confident common sense is the defining characteristic of great and lasting culture. Looks like you found out this greatly enhances life as an individual ages, too. Great use of “whom” in the final line of “Technical Support,” but I might nonetheless make a change to say, “You’ll pay and pray to understand.” Best wishes for aging and continuing to overcome the challenges of computerdom!
Thanks Margaret. I actually am very blessed to have a computer genius for a wife, without whom I generally could not function in the modern tech world. But occasionally calling technical support is still a must, and, well, sometimes that brings another challenge for many folks.
Russell, it is a splendid sunny day here in England. Just when things couldn’t get any better, I read your work today, and they just did. Thanks for a most entertaining interlude. A best seller must be on the cards.
Thanks Jeff, I’m glad that you enjoyed the poems, and had a good day.