“Each year/part of a conversation I amost had/with someone I meant to call.”

–Tim Seibles

I should have prepared better

for mid-life or beyond

even that.  One more day

standing at the edge

of something I did not see coming.

My father at 53

an old man, kneeling at the hearth

in his flannel shirt and baggy polyester pants.  His life spent

preparing for what might come, counting

every nickel and dime hoping that this time

something might add up.