Beyond Descartes
Since brain and memory
have long since said goodbye
“I think, therefore I am”
does not apply.
On good days, though,
I take some heart because
I think I thought. Therefore
perhaps I was.
Going for Broke
When you’ve grown far too old to be useful,
when your family all think you’re a bore,
say “Nuts” to the lot of them;
simply get shot of them.
That’s what world cruises are for.
So tear up your Will. Book a stateroom.
Though the thought of a cruise may appall,
set sail for the best state
of dead and intestate
with assets of nothing at all.
You can’t spend your cash when you’ve snuffed it.
Your kids think they should. But so what?
Go sit in the Diner
of some plushy liner
and spend till you’ve got through the lot.
Deckchairs at Eastbourne
When he was tall and she was slim
he fell for her, she fell for him.
And now they’re huddled side by side
he is stooped and she is wide;
while dreams that long ago expired
have left them calmer, wiser, tired,
content to watch the sea come in,
go out and then come in again.
But still for her and still for him
he is tall and she is slim.
“Beyond Descartes,” “Going for Broke,” and “Deckchairs at Eastbourne” appear in I Think I Thought (Matador, 2017)
Martin Parker lives in Dorset, UK. In 2008 he founded Lighten Up Online, which he edited for seven years. The 102 poems of I Think I Thought, published in November 2017, might make an ideal gift for those who, like its author, now feel that “. . . the face that views me from the mirror is no longer mine, / has lost its owner’s hair and looks depressed by what it sees . . .” More examples from I Think I Thought are at www.martinparker-verse.co.uk. (Book review here.)