{"id":308076,"date":"2019-09-17T06:05:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T20:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=308076"},"modified":"2019-09-17T06:05:38","modified_gmt":"2019-09-16T20:05:38","slug":"e-a-s-y-exemplars-w-h-auden-w-b-yeats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/e-a-s-y-exemplars-w-h-auden-w-b-yeats\/","title":{"rendered":"E.A.S.Y.: Exemplars W. H. Auden, W.B. Yeats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brain Pan Building Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe who are old, old and gay, O so old!
\nthousands of years, thousands of years,
\nIf all were told.\u201d<\/em>
\n\u2014William Butler Yeats, 1893<\/p>\n

We who are old, old and stumbling
\nminds crumbling
\nmillions of synapses, millions of synapses
\nmonth after month
\nThere are some new ones coming around
\nsilently bumbling
\nalong the restless hours and sleepless nights
\nwith a little help from those we love
\nwe want more and more of course
\nthoughts tumbling
\nis it getting better, it is getting better
\ntell us so, we don\u2019t know
\namygdala, cerebrum, cerebellum
\nmouth mumbling
\ncan hardly tell them apart
\nour blood runs cold.<\/p>\n

Answering the Easy Question is Hard<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOnly remembering the method of remembering,
\nRemembering only in another way.\u201d <\/em>
\n\u2014W.H. Auden<\/p>\n

To answer the easy question gets harder
\nYes, he\u2019s at home. This is he.
\nNot sure what he\u2019s doing today. Oh me?
\nProbably out stargazing or writing a poem
\nWho is asking? What is your name?
\nI don\u2019t remember how I know you.
\nIt is tasking my brain. Memory loss to blame.
\nMy hearing is good. My knees make do.
\nThese days I\u2019m not too sure for how long.
\nCan\u2019t remember why I came in the room.
\nHow did I use to get these things done?
\nForgetting easily falling into dementia doom.
\nWhat is hot inside but covered with snow
\nused to be helpful but now starting to go?<\/p>\n

Expired Meds Bad for Heads
\nCross Wired Brains Cause Strains<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re looking for you\u201d – said hearer to horror
\nAs he left them there\u2026\u201d <\/em>
\n\u2014W.H. Auden, 1931<\/p>\n

\u201cOh what am I doing?\u201d I said to myself
\nWhy did I come in here? What do I need?
\nAs my eyes move along the bathroom shelf
\nnow back in the kitchen do I have to return?<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t you even imagine why you went in?
\nIt is getting dark and the overhead light is out
\nthe medicine cabinet is a good place to begin
\nmy patience with myself is wearing quite thin.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh what is it I needed?\u201d I can\u2019t remember
\nWhat did it look like? What was its color?
\nMy medicine expired last year in December
\nsince then my memory gets duller and duller.<\/p>\n

Think I\u2019ll go outside and get some fresh air
\nCan\u2019t find it? Don\u2019t need it. What do I care?<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

LITERARY NOOK
\nJoey Connolly<\/strong>
\nSpecial to the Saipan Tribune<\/em><\/p>\n

Joey aka Pepe Batbon is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is a sonnet practitioner who enjoys stargazing.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brain Pan Building Plan \u201cWe who are old, old and gay, O so old! thousands…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[23672,23673,13843,23674],"class_list":["post-308076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion","tag-lvnv","tag-nola","tag-pepe-batbon","tag-william-butler-yeats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308076\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}