our glass
sure for years
now, the grim
reaper has been
picking buddies
off as we climb up
Himalayas of aging
but when he nabbed
my longest time
friend/ cousin
with a crab
which was
spelled
Dementia
--it hit me
and family
way harder’n
ever before ---
life’s incomplete
in irreversible ways
more painful/ less
anticipated, though
as this clan’s next
in line patriarch,
it behooves me...
Gerard Sarnat
Gerard Sarnat MD has won the Poetry in the Arts First Place Award plus the Dorfman Prize; has been nominated for a handful of recent Pushcarts plus Best of the Net Awards; has authored HOMELESS CHRONICLES (2010), Disputes (2012), 17s (2014) and Melting The Ice King (2016); and is widely published including recently by New Ulster, Gargoyle, Stanford, Oberlin, Pomona, Penn, Dartmouth, Wesleyan, Johns Hopkins, Virginia Commonwealth, Harvard, and many more. His poetry was chosen for a 50th Harvard reunion Dylan symposium. Gerry’s been married since 1969 with three kids, five grandsons and looking forward to future granddaughters.