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Today is Now

Text of Poem

It doesn’t need headlines,
I see it, my age stamped on
the mirror each morning. So
that’s the way it is and I go
to bed so I can get up or
get up so I can go to bed
with a day wedged between or
a night, habits I’ve acquired
through use and I don’t ask why.
Deep, back in the mirror stare
the eyes of the young man
I used to be, who did other
things than I do now. All right,
let him, I am not going back
in memory and pick up after him.
Let him pay his own debts,
the girl he borrowed love from,
the parents he never paid back,
the friends he forgot to settle
with— the hell with him, he had
his chance. This is my time today
and I better make the most of it,
there may not be many more.

First Line
It doesn't need headlines,
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1984
Original Citation
Focus 15.95 (1984) 20.
Complete Poems
458
Word Count
150
Poetic Form
open
Bibliographic Notes

IAPV1983 lists the publication date as 1983. Is this journal Focus or Focus Midwest?

Themes
Twitter Quote
Deep, back in the mirror stare / the eyes of the young man / I used to be