{"id":128362,"date":"2023-09-02T10:44:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-02T14:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/?p=128362"},"modified":"2023-09-03T07:59:38","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T11:59:38","slug":"ten-miles-over-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/ten-miles-over-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Ten miles over the . . . (Prompt 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The greetings
\nsocial media onslaught
\nbest wishes, memes
\n\u2018speed limit birthday
\nplethora of road sign pics
\n55 M-P-H
\nvintage
\n\u2018Stay alive, drive 55\u2019 ads<\/p>\n

Amused, bemused
\nnot feeling the urgency,
\namusement that just
\nfifty had provided
\nno black balloons
\ntaped to my work desk
\nno grim reaper cards
\nI could only remind folks
\nfifty-five isn\u2019t old . . .
\nif you\u2019re a tree
\nto laughter only my own<\/p>\n

Now, just a few torn-off
\ncalendar pages from
\nthe big six-five
\nI wonder more about
\nhow much future remains
\ncareer wise
\nopportunities abound yet
\nI am limited, it seems
\nin eyes of others<\/p>\n

Experience, wisdom be
\nworkplace damned
\n\u2018times have changed?\u2019
\nSo have I <\/p>\n

Old friends and peers
\nsame vintage
\nspouting woes of time
\ninfirmities
\nsame social medias
\nand newer ideations
\nmore bitter, less willing
\nto see opportunity<\/p>\n

My mailboxes
\nsnail and electronic
\nfilled daily with
\ninsurance and sign-up
\ndeadlines
\nsixty-five gifting me an
\nentirely new vocabulary
\nplan this, part that<\/p>\n

Every month the
\ncalendar flips I find
\nnew reminders to
\nencourage those
\nwho surround me that
\nsixty-five is coming
\nyeah,
\nbut leave the angst to
\nsomeone else
\ncome April, let\u2019s all go
\nhave a beer
\nyou can bring a cake
\nI won\u2019t even mind
\nif the frosting is black<\/p>\n

\u2013 Mark L. Lucker
\n\u00a9 2023
\nhttp:\/\/lrd.to\/sxh9jntSbd<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The greetings social media onslaught best wishes, memes \u2018speed limit birthday plethora of road sign pics 55 M-P-H vintage \u2018Stay alive, drive 55\u2019 ads Amused, bemused not feeling the urgency, amusement that just fifty had provided no black balloons taped to my work desk no…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13],"tags":[5801,5734,5833],"class_list":["post-128362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem","category-miscellaneous","tag-2023hour2","tag-2023poetrymarthon","tag-2023prompt2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/694"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128362"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143232,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128362\/revisions\/143232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}