Three years ago the following  (by me) was published in The Avalon Review:

RELAX — the image is not really me

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Smooth sailing,  that’s what it’s like.  If you get old enough folks don’t expect much out of you anyway, so take out your hearing aids and get comfy.  Finally, you can just ignore the aches and pains that aren’t the real you, and  enjoy what’s been bubbling up inside all these years.

Honor yourself and let the creative juices flow.  You’re free to mix up the years, even the people if you want.  Get out the crayons, the paints, scoot up to a computer and let ‘er rip.  You’ve seen a lot, got good stories under your belt.  Get them on paper and even if they won’t listen, they can read them some day, or you can sneak them out of the house  and tell others.

When you kick the bucket you’ll be the center of attention.  O the tears, the lament!  They’ll be interested then. They’ll realize they don’t know the stories of their own family.  Too late now to ask.

Don’t get bitter. Did you behave any better yourself?  Let it all go.  Make collages out of pictures in magazines!   Try playing with words.  You’re a poet and didn’t know it?  Now you know.

Have you heard that they’re encouraging folks to get into music, if they haven’t when growing up?  They say music keeps you young–if you want to be young.  Remember those old-time fiddlers and washboard musicians? And the foot-tapping?

I say “you” when I really mean “me,” or “us.”  We’ll write down our dreams and share. Don’t have to tell the young everything!  Just in time, they’ve invented flash fiction.  It’s the new style and it comes in handy when you start doing things in spurts.  Remember it’s not over until the ice man cometh, or  some such thing.