I’m so glad friend Felix Gagliano shared his upbeat poem with us:

LOUCHE CHANGE

With more yesterdays behind me

than tomorrows before me,

I fancy myself in other times and places.

Today I imagine myself in the Art Deco era.

My life has been mostly long and calm,

nothing like Bohemians such as Modigliani

who lived wildly and recklessly choosing:

une vie breve mais intense.

I want to rejuvenate like a Rose of Jericho,

and to try being rakish, wicked and louche.

I want to embellish the music of my life

with grace notes and stirring glissandi.

I like talking with Picasso and Hemmingway

in the salon of Gertrude and her loyal Alice.

Perhaps I shall have a torrid love affair or two,

one with the enigmatic Tamara de Lempika.

I yearn to stretch beyond being banal

Let the finale of my life crescendo.

May it be like a glorious harvest moon,

a last burst of light before the dark winter.

–Felix Gagliano, October 2022