Something happened to me
I probably was an early case
said right away it wasn’t the flu
and it lasted ten days before I could
go out and then I was still so tired
and my wind was hurt and then
month by month I would feel
better but then I would realize
something happened but yet
I was still alive (sort of) and
had to go on anyway what
else could I do about it
except as always and
as I have done each
decade (or so) and
changing into
my next
incarnation
not knowing
if I’ll ever
get it
right as
something
keep right on
happening
(at my age)

 

James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He is a member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992. Van Looy leads the Labyrinth Creative Movement Workshop, which his Labyrinth titled poems are based on. His work appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.