You were
so cocksure
of your fine
physique,
the hold
your muscles
kept
on femur
and humerus,
the days
that forgave
again
and again
the insults
to the
tender flesh
that covered
as if you
were all underbelly.
God granted you
long life
but not long youth,
made you toil
until each stride,
as you shuffled off,
was shorter
than the last.
Everything
shorter
than it was—
the back,
the dick,
the step.

Elaine Mintzer has been published in journals and anthologies. Her work was featured in 13 Los Angeles Poets. Elaine’s first collection, Natural Selections, was published by Bombshelter Press. She writes and teaches writing in Los Angeles.