Reflection on my struggle to burn a computer CD.
For J.J
I’m going on eighty, been through a lot—
Been called a Jew Christ-killer, lost schoolyard
Fights (won some, too). Swallowed the acrid snot
Of subordination. Reduced to shards
By slow promotion. Wept for one lost wife
(But found another). Twice lost election
To Department Chair—two vote rejection!
That stung, as well as blessed—I dodged the rife
Strife—administrator’s pain, spirit’s blight.
At the gym, I couldn’t twist a T-knob
Wound too tight; a woman—two-thirds my height,
Half my weight—freed it easily (throat sob!).
But no humiliation so stung me
As my defeat by Windows damned XP!
(8/26/09)