LW Poetry

This feature showcases original poems by members of the Creative Writers Club of Leisure World and other GRF members. Send poems to emmad@lwsb.com. Poetry submissions will run as space allows.

Beeping

There’s just too much darn beeping. It’s making me crazy. Clocks, microwaves, computers, trucks in reverse, answering machines, car alarms, it’s getting worse!

They make my bleary blue eyes go glazy.

Then one evening, unexpectedly, I suffered a coronary. An ambulance spirited me to Tucson’s St. Mary’s where they specialize in veins and capillaries Heck, it was certainly preferable than a cemetery.

I soon had an angioplasty, and surgery the next morning. They placed two stents around my heart, And just a couple centimeters apart To prevent another attack without warning.

I woke up to more beeping! The weather was a scorcher. I thought, “My life’s become a nightmare.”

I guess now’s the time to say a prayer.

Wow, from carefree living to unmitigated torture.

To the nurse I cried, “What’s that sound! It’s horrifying!” She replied, “No need to gripe and convulse.

The beep is your EKG. You’ve a normal pulse.”

I muttered, “I’m so grateful. Thank you for clarifying.” True, I now have to take a statin every night till I perish. But relieved, I smiled and fell back asleep.

And changed my mind about the beep: It’s life! And is the sound that I most cherish.

—Jon Michaels, Mutual 1