Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

the percussive exuberance
of K-drama dialogue
drifts down the darkened hall
a cryptic lullaby in
rollercoaster tones
leading me past
anxious abstraction
to plush midnight

Postscript:

It’s been a couple of months since I last added to these pages, two very busy months filled with plumbers and tilers and electricians and painters, with offices and websites and forms and requirements, with consultants and brokers and advisors and agents, with war and devastation and horror and betrayal, with doctors and optometrists and dentists, with family and friends and holidays and baby showers, with emotional drama and urgent needs, with bright spots amid dark and dreary times, and with very, very little sleep for many, many days. In short, it’s been the kind of time that would pummel the poetry out of all but the most arduous and dedicated (and I am not among that number).

In fewer than forty days, I will retire from my monkey-boy-day-job and work instead toward becoming the country squire I have long dreamed of being. Fingers crossed, all looks to be progressing well, but it is neither a simple nor a smooth path. The world is not organized around this process, this once-in-a-lifetime switch from occupation to avocation. For better or worse, the world is not designed to foster contemplation and quiet creation.

There is much we do not appreciate when steeped in vigorous youth. On the other hand, there is no such thing as “the wisdom of age.” Years may add wisdom, but from my experience and my observation of others, that’s just as much a crapshoot as anything else in this world. Plenty of old fools to go around. Plenty.

But I’ve been working toward this goal for half a century. I’ve gone down some blind alleys, taken several alternate routes—scenic and otherwise—but I’ve been lucky enough to be smart, and smart enough to appreciate my luck, so even when I’ve gotten myself turned around, I’ve eventually been able to reorient, regroup, and get back on task.

I expect, within a few months, that my brain will cease to whirl and gyre, leaving me with hours to fill with new objectives and the energy with which to achieve them.

Until that time, I thank you for your patience.

k