If that phrase sounds like a nursing home or even more euphemistically
a care center then your imagination is bereft you are missing some vital
concept your way is too narrow but you will be forgiven for the paradigm
you're sticking to with all four feet like a bewildered gecko wondering
what's up what's down and how long will I keep my tail because that's
the norm ain't it so when we hear that Ms M got medivacked to Queen's
Hospital for an emergency operation and you know what you know
about the cats and dogs the porch suspended in tree tops and the flotsam
and jetsam of one person's life as it finds the waterline on the cruise
ship called our town you think to yourself how much more can I get
out of this teabag how much longer can my day to day look like oh
man I don't even know what I'm talking about as usual I'm talking
around it I'm one too an elder not becoming but arrived and the gathering
is done in passing in coffee shops and market places occasionally at one
another's house but forgive me now for wondering if my lofty use
of that phrase where community elders actually sit around and work
on what's good for the community itself sits there on the bottom
of that stack of dusty metaphors clichés old wives tales and folk
sayings not to mention personal fantasies based on things I heard
about Lakota Yoruba Pitjanjara Inuit Maasai Yaqui Ainu and the
Disappeared in Smoke but Still There at Your Shoulder Grandfathers
and Grandmothers how will we ever know respect when we lock
up our lives in boxes and live alone and what's this about embracing
the kupuna wearing mu'umu'u and shuffling between Nakahara's
and Takata's with our dark secrets we no like share so what
if the people lock up their kids in schools all day race through
what they call lunch to the minute so they can wander around
the playground under supervision so what if people look at you
making two three four journeys a day for one thing maybe
stumble a bit and they say oh! oh! get on with your own life
clean your windows one pane at a time go to the library
at story time get on your knees and get your fingernails
dirty on the pollen path stop feeling so useless forgive yourself
don't listen to any of this and especially that gather together
oh ye elders but remember the old minds of the toddlers and weep
for it is your rain will nourish the catnip arugula and water lilies of the world
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