Puzzles
As our parents approach their last portal,
our good humor each morning depends
on the things that, thank God, are immortal:
Wordle, Spelling Bee, Strands, Words with Friends.
Yard Work
Our hair may have thinned, but our grass still needs mowing!
Our height may have shrunk, but our flowers are growing!
(If only our passion for sowing and hoeing
had bloomed before all our damn backs started going.)
Knitting
Tech is shifting sand.
Stocks are in a whirl.
But wool and needles, we command:
knit purl, knit purl.
Every day, a storm
Starts to surge and swirl.
At least we keep our families warm:
knit purl, knit purl.
Creeps in politics
Make us want to hurl.
Be careful, dudes: we’ve got sharp sticks.
Knit purl, knit purl.
Playing an Instrument
Have spices been banned from our diet?
A jam session’s always got bite.
Is booze out as well? What a riot!
Our tunes keep us flying all night.
Golf
While libidos are starting to rot,
we spend every spare minute we’ve got
laser-focused on goals
that involve balls and holes.
A coincidence? Probably not.
Birdwatching
Why stare for hours at our feeders?
Is it because – no longer breeders –
we’re soothed when jays seem undepressed
despite a newly empty nest?
When aging cardinals, now molting,
still find each other unrevolting?
Or are they just distracting us
from what we’d rather not discuss –
that, since the years (like birds) are flying,
it won’t be long until we’re . . . Hey, look, a woodpecker!