Middle Age Folly

Lurching hole-eyed and numb, he wondered if talking might
help. Maybe he could regain their respect that

way; he could show wisdom as the product of his experience.
He rehearsed during wretched nights: “Did you ever

look into a mirror and see something lower than dog shit?”
He gripped sheets as fever wrung him, sweat blistering

his skin. “I don’t mean that as a metaphor. I mean, really
lower than dog shit.” But he understood that it was

useless to try and get their attention, all those smug bastards.
He needed to feel bigger, but he knew he was smaller.

It was worse than those days in high school, when they
kicked his skinny little ass. This was no way to finish, it

should happen near the start: the agony that you fight through,
and laugh about years later.

 

Mitchel Montagna currently works as a corporate communications writer. He has also been a special education teacher and radio news reporter. His poetry has been published in The Penwood Review, Poetry Life and Times, and PEEKS and valleys.

Glenn Bowie is a published poet, lyricist and photographer from the Boston area. He also owns and operates an elevator company that supplies custom-built elevators for clients from New England to Hollywood. Author of two poetry and photograph collections (Under the Weight of Whispers and Into the Thorns and Honey) on Big Table Publishing, he donates all profits from his books to various charities for the homeless and local animal shelters. Glenn is also the official photographer for the Newton Writing and Publishing Center.