Plan Ahead by Virginia Watts

Plan Ahead

Now that I am 60 friends are ominous
Downsize now. Sell your house
Decide where you want to ride it out
No stairs. It’s a one level life for you
Sort out those Medicare options pronto

My hair is thinner, teeth less tight
A flatline waits for me like horizon
Still, I don’t listen, haunt my favorite bars
Sip Prosecco on ice. Order yummy shit food
Fried chicken sliders. Potato skins. Nachos.
Bask in the glow of overweight off-key bands
who perform billboard hits of the 70s and 80s

What are some of my favorites?
Best of My Love
Corny, romantic, heart swelling
Lyrics like that undead me
Our House births my truest smile
Cozy room, cats (2) mew, frolic of fire
Summer Breeze’s screen door slaps a kiss
Window curtains breathe jasmine in, out

Why not ride it out humming inside
a sticky wooden world, wobbly stools
laminated menus, tilt of tap, chink of glass
neon lights to flash in teeth like the sun’s
teasy wink in a sideview and voices
yours and mine, all of humankind
the gentle drone of pollinating bees
sudden laughter to sting the eardrum
with the miracle of a grazing bullet

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Virginia Watts is the author of poetry and stories found in Epiphany, CRAFT, The Florida Review, Reed Magazine, Pithead Chapel, Permafrost Magazine, Sky Island Journal among others. She has been nominated four times for a Pushcart Prize and four times for Best of the Net. Her work in five anthologies and a debut short story collection Echoes from The Hocker House can be found at https://www.amazon.com/author/virginiawattswrites. Please visit her at virginiawatts.com