The Address Book
By Louis Phillips
How could I predict
That my life wd become whatever,
So many people
Passing thru—address books
Filled with names & numbers
I no longer recognize,
Pages torn loose,
Addresses crossed out,
Lives badly smudged,
Decades of earnest grief,
Missed opportunities,
Phones disconnected.
What am I now?
Just another old man
Among old men.
Turn the calendar upside down
& let the days fall out.
Copyright Credit: Poem copyright ©2015 by Louis Phillips, "The Address Book" from The Domain of Silence; The Domain of Absence: New & Selected Poems, (Pleasure Boat Studio, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Louis Phillips and the publisher.
Source: 2018