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No part of this poetry should be reproduced in any form without written consent from the author, Joe DiMino who retains all rights. Contact. poet@light-cards.com

"Pain Is A Great Attention Getter" by Joe DiMino.

Pain is a great attention getter…
Grounds you so closely
One can taste the dirt,
Feel the larva, anticipating
The mold;
With advantage over youth though
At least no longer rabid—
Try to avoid thought of the process!
But one really cannot entirely,
The new vintage coming on
With the same wobble if drunk
But no intoxication, for this aged
Is more sobering…

My own collectable—who else but me
Would want me?
From prime to antique seeming overnight…
And if inclined as I have been to casual worship
Now devout even zealot--
Dusting off my mother’s saints;
I look for transparencies everywhere
In the earth and sky—
In the old books I reread
Able now to recite many phrases
From memory;
Look again at the stains on pages—
I never bought new ones,
Always having preferred the pre-handled
Wondering hated or loved?
As much as the texts
Treasured the stains—
Is this one coffee? And that a tear?
With some seeming blood…
The smiles you can’t see
So I wish a few of my own
Hoping they will cling somehow
Even if just at the frayed edges,
Tuck between the bindings separating;
It is that thought of parting
That intrigues me most—
And the old shelves we will sit upon
Strangely paradox; and my most loyal
Companions through these years of process: as my mother said
“Dust keeps”;
But most of all I wonder: Will anyone ever
Read them as I did? Sing or rant their phrases
Out loud! Extol their virtues and condemn their lies;
Shout to the heavens my truths deciphered
And to hell with all my negatives—
In conclusion, will there ever be
Another me?
To find me so late
Only having to let go—

“Yes, “We grow old too soon….”


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