They Ought'a Be Banned
someone suggested a 'five times' mirror
so to see to the needs of my skin all
I saw were more wrinkles
to make such a mirror is a sin
Short verses with plenty of personality — funny, tender, and occasionally a little risqué.
Phyllis Tippett has been writing pocket poems for decades — little verses that catch what the rest of us walk past. My Perceived Dotage gathers a selection of that work: observations on friendship, love, loss, and the particular indignities of growing older. The title tells you everything you need to know about its author. She knows how old she is. She simply reserves the right to have her own opinion about what that means.
someone suggested a 'five times' mirror
so to see to the needs of my skin all
I saw were more wrinkles
to make such a mirror is a sin
I'm careful of what I tell my children
a big no-no is that I fell
they might think to put me in 'the home'
now, I'm in 'the home' with nothing to tell.
Jim died when we lived in a different place
I know he came back and lived with me there
his poltergeist followed to this senior home
I know 'cause he bangs and he creeks everywhere
I'll have my box of chardonnay and wine god Bacchus with me
he will spirit me aloft and above the Lake Erie tangle
whence I'll meet with Jim somewhere near the St. Lawrence Seaway
then both aswirl in ever, ever land in, mayhaps, the Bermuda Triangle
mornings are wall to wall things
all problems that need solutions
but before my mind tackles that
I'll do my morning ablution
well the problem is that
I like brussels sprouts
and vegetables I crave
for their bounty there are doubts
Poems by Phyllis M. Tippett
A debut collection from a poet who has been writing pocket poems for nearly a century. Funny, sharp, and full of life — these are verses that notice what everyone else walked past.