Got my COVID vaccination yesterday.
Think I’ll say close to home and wear
a mask anyway. Seems to me “stupid
shit” is still happening out there.
Afraid it’s another pandemic spreading
far and wide. Feel much safer, keeping
the disease-free sanity left in me, holed
up and hunkered down inside.
Now I only have Facebook with which
to contend. Seems to me people-dumped
“stupid shit” is a stinkin’ mess which has
no end.
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-26-2021
Linda Bryant-Carlson
Mrs. Hildebrandt
Mr. Jefferson
Harry and Caroline Skinner
Albert and Doris Gerecht
Ed Eskew—
I am sure none of
the above names
mean anything to you,
Dear Reader.
These are the names
folks my father and I knew
from our life in Kansas City
in 1961-62. I was 14-15
at the time.
Why write them down
for you to see here
60-years later in 2021?
Well, because I happened
to recall them way back
when.
These are people,
many of whom are
long gone now, not
famous names,
just regular folks
like you and I.
Why at age 74
they happened
to revisit my mind,
I cannot say?
I suppose a reflective
old age mind somehow
accounts for one’s life
in strange ways.
For me, at least,
there is no reasonable
explanation for such a thing.
Perhaps therein lies the
concept of a Life Hereafter.
The Spirit of such a thing
of Glory resides
in the memory
of someone still alive
spontaneously
remembering.
-30-
Chris Hanch 6-23-2021
Think of all the conflagration and chaos
over the past 14-billion years it took us
to get us here.
We humans are progeny of the Universe
indeed, builders and destroyers of our own
little worlds.
We express love and hate, create and dese-
crate, record history and invent gods to
justify our actions and deeds.
Naturally in a colossal continuum, the Cosmos
does what it does. Willfully and with malice
of forethought, mankind does unto others.
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-20-2021
I realize that I have made
my mistakes along the way.
Some indicate, to do what
I have done took a measure
of persistent heart and soul.
Ah but in actuality, it took a
dose of this and a smattering
of that.
All-in-all there was an amalgam
of thought, a modicum of
opportunity for me,
and a good deal of
random shooting from the hip.
And too, there were those times
I had no clue as to what to do.
I seemed to have made it thus far,
however, somehow avoiding a
disastrous toll,
raising the bet and playing
my hand just right
at times,
all the while holding an
ace in the hole.
I’m all in;
read ‘em and weep!
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-19-2021
No more sit ups or push ups
for me. Seems when I was
of an able age, muscle might
for me was never meant to be.
Thin as a rail, a tall drink of
water has always been the
makeup of my physicality.
Observation and reflection was
the exercise routine I practiced
from youth into these thoughtful
days of my old age.
The pencil, pen, paint brush and
camera are the weights I chose
to wield which flexed my muscle
memory and kept me mindfully
fit.
Hup, one, two, three..!
Eat your heart out, Charles Atlas
and Hercules.
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-18-2021
Old age tells me of mortality, of others
and of ourselves. Those, such as I, who
have attained their share of years on the
Earth are aware the end is near. Perhaps
more than a matter of minutes, hours,
days, even years, but somewhere near.
We’ve all had friends and relations whose
demise was an early and unexpected surprise.
No one at any age has a bonded guarantee.
But there comes a time when you need to
prepare for the inevitability of mortality.
Old age tells us that we are no longer able
physically or mentally as we used to be.
Granted there are those who may look
or perform better than many of their age,
but don’t be fooled, my friends, time is,
has always been a degenerative disease.
Old age tells us when we hear in the news of
the famous and revered we have grown up
with have died, our number being called is
is only a matter of time.
Old age tells us of that which we can and
can no longer achieve. Old age tells us with
every season, and for good reason, there
is a beginning and an end.
Now, there are many who believe in a
life hereafter. And I’m not trying to mess
with anyone’s faith and thoughts on eter-
nity, but personally, I believe it would be
boring for even the good stuff to last
forever.
Old age tells me I’d best cherish what’s
left in this life for me. Kind of makes me
grateful even for my debilitating and
chronic aches and pains.
Someone once told me (and the guy was
no famous guru or Svengali, but rather
let’s say more of an armchair philosopher):
“At least with the pain, you know you’re
still alive.”
I suppose it all boils down to this: Mostly
old age tells me, if I am remembered
when I’m gone, that will have to be good
enough for me.
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-17-2021
I spent some time
today
doing a few notable
things.
I spent a measure
of time today
for which I have
nothing
at all to say.
Call me lazy,
call me crazy,
call me actively
engaged.
I won’t go into detail
for that would prove
to be a waste of time.
Suffice it to say,
you are now using
your time
to view these lines
commensurate
in a way
with the time
it took me
to make them.
Time well spent
or frivolously
thrown away,
who is to say?
-30-
Chris Hanch 5-12-2021
