| What would it be like to retire, be one of those guys you always see on their way somewhere – downtown or the mall, on his way to meet friends, for coffee perhaps in the morning, later to his favorite bar to have a beer with the boys, his fellow retirees, guys he’s known for years, to watch a game, or just joke, tell jokes that only old friends would get? I wonder what it would be like to fall into the type, a know- it-all at times, generous to a fault, get to all the local games, know so many people by their first names that walking down the street seems more like a parade, waving, nodding, saying a little something to so many. I wonder, wonder here in retired isolation, wearing a mask, counting down days with the TV, the number of tests, new cases, the dead, sit here remembering I once had friends, remembering how I wanted to fit this cheerful type of retiree, remembering I once aspired to more than just surviving a little longer. |
| J. K. Durick is a retired writing teacher and online writing tutor. His recent poems have appeared in Literary Yard, Vox Poetica, Synchronized Chaos, Madswirl, and in the anthology, Along the Way. |