subtext

three years ago

at sixty-three

after thirty-four years

I stopped teaching

I stopped taking

anti-depressants 

stopped drinking 

as much 

the night terrors

though not stopped

are less frequent 

and less frantic

I am not somebody

out of a capra film

nor a famous nobody

listening to frogs sing

I am me— an old man

who still loves lisa

and writes little poems

few people will read

(March 16, 2026)