Wednesday, April 2, 2025

April is National Poetry Month - Floaters


I'm seeing floaters


tiny bubbles dancing 

across my vision field

that no amount of blinking 

will dispel

like dandelion seeds 

suspended permanently 

on a summer breeze.

 

It's the beginning of a new season

according to the web-doctor,

along with flashes of white light 

that I first interpreted 

as headlights reflected by the chrome 

of passing cars 

while I was driving,

but still flickered off and on

at home

in the corner of the bedroom

while my wife was out -


I was in a panic 

and had no one to ask 

if getting old 

is like a hallucination -

cars speeding by, bubbles 

always on the verge of bursting,  


or if it's a symptom of mortality 

settling down over you   

barely perceptible

as dusk,

a gradual blindness

mistaken for 

reality,


and then

I heard the sound of a key 

turning in the front door

I think.

2 comments:

  1. Whether these floaters are real or metaphorical (or both), don't panic ... they are a normal part of the aging process. I've had them in the past. What happens, my opthalmologist explained, is that your brain teaches itself to un-see them, and they eventually go away. Speaking of aging, check out my new poem "On Turning Sixty-Five" on thelionofpoetry.squarespace.com which contends that as we get older and closer to death (ashes), our body gradually become more and more like rusted metal, rotting wood, and decaying minerals. Cheerful stuff for National Poetry Month!

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    1. Man, is aging ever annoying sometimes. Hemorrhoids and now this. I look forward to reading your poem.

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