"Poem For the New Year 2022"
Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri

01/10/2022
6:00 am pst

​

​

I just can't stop believing something's wrong
No matter how fulfilled I feel
No matter how many memories I make
No matter how many people with whom I converse
I feel there's something more at stake
And I'm missing something, what? 

Don't know
Even after (nearly) 70 years
When I write, is it just typing?
Autopilot prose
Instant illumination
Nothing's new
Yet everything seems always changing
Excitement, energy, vibrant verisimilitude

Then

Prodding, plodding, poetic, prosaic prattle
I mastered the art of artifice
I put the mask of optimism on the face of oblivion
Writing, rewriting, revising, rehashing, 
Reflective ruminations
When you don't want to look in the mirror anymore

Nothing's wrong
Can't believe I didn't write a New Year's poem 
for the past two years
Or else I did,
and simply can't remember where I filed them
And does it matter?

Now

The muse, amused, mussed my hair and laughed
And then she disappeared forever 
The typewriter fell on the floor and broke
And when I hit the computer keyboard keys
the thoughts race faster than the words are even written
Meaning frees as fast as it flees

I still worry too much and I don't have to (worry)
Still I consume too much news and information
But don't we all?
And then I get upset as I forget...
And forget what I forgot
How can one begin to worry 
About that last forgotten thought?
And then worry about why

As usual I breathe a sigh 
another step on the road to wonder why
Something might be wrong, but something's also right
And maybe it's right that I write this
Nobody knows it all, and we're all learning this life together alone
I feel better already

 

 

"Last Day/New Day
(A treatise upon retirement)"

Poetry by Michael F. Nyiri
11/30/2022

04:45 a.m. pst

​

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life
Without dreary daily worries or wanton weekly strife
No more dismal deadlines, no more needling questions
I will make my own itinerary, I will breathe easier and relax

Today is my last day with a daily work schedule
The last time I'll feel a need to read emails and respond
The last day to check ongoing projects and jobs
The last time I'll hear the phone's demanding sound

This is a milestone in sight for long years now
Planned, postponed, set aside, always in view though
And finally here without fanfare it's clear how
It's time now, I'm ready, excited, ecstatic I know

I missed birthday parties in youth, only family affairs
That didn't mean I didn't celebrate turning of the ages
Never married, never sired children of my own
My book never seemed complete, even with the turning of the pages

I've had my share of weddings and funerals
As we all do, and I relish each benchmark and occasion
My graduations stopped with high school
As one funeral interrupted college's persuasion

The first career ended badly, after 15 years of my early life
Political posturing set aside
Unjustly terminated from two positions, 
Unlikely severance from another when the company died

Romance was a series of dalliances short and sweet 
Perhaps one or two longer relationships, soft kisses, cute meets
Long rambling love poems reside in countless drawers
No anniversaries to cherish, only lonely memorial cares

However I've had a long tenure at my present position
Over thirty four years of hard work, and appreciable worth
After I clock out for the last time, the last job, the last hour
My new day dawns bright, clear in sight, feeling power

I love to photograph sunsets and sunrises
I love to mark benchmarks in time
One relishes remembrance, and sometimes surmises
Life's poem isn't finished, and is only beginning to rhyme ​​​​​​​