aging

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Salt

I grew up on a bay with salt.

I always had a salty taste on my lips

and as soon as I approached home,

I smelled it in the air.

The salt dried out the skin and

you needed extra moisturizer  after swimming.

We didn’t have salt in the sugar bowl

but we had rice in the salt shaker

to keep the salt flowing in the humidity.

 

Anyone else grow up on a bay?

photo of seaside during daytime

Photo by Dimitry Anikin on Pexels.com

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From the Nicaraguan Poet Francisco de Asis Fernandez

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Anunque el cuerpo se marchite

 

Hay un misterio que sobrepasa mi llanto y mi sobriedad.

¿Qué esconden las tinieblas? ¿Qué disrazan las sombras?

Cuando era niño lloraba

No entendia la noche

Que tiene un dulce aroma de tierra pisada por las pajaros,

Y ahora no entiendo la muerte,

Aunque sepa que es cuando la luz se abre en el infinito

Y los ojos dejan de llorar.

 

Although the body may fade

 

There is a mystery greater than my weeping and my sorrow.

What does darkness hide, what do shadows disguise?

When I was a boy I used to cry.

I did not understand night

With its sweet aroma of earth softly trodden by birds,

and now I do not understand death,

although I am aware that it is when light opens to infinity

and eyes cease weeping.

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The critics have been kind

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The reviews are in and “One Down,” the new play by my son, Michael, is a hit.

“The play, written by Mike Poblete…is a moving, frequently funny look at loss, raging, drams and human connection.”

–Deborah Martin, Arts Writer, San Antonio Express-News

If you’re in San Antonio area , you can catch it at the Overtime Theatre through August 27.

If you’re in the NYC area, Michael has a new play going up on August 15 at the Louise Lortel Theatre, 121 Christopher St at 4 pm, called “Surfacing.”  It’s free, but you need to register for a ticket.

 

 

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Poetry Reading in Amherst

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I went to a reading on the “Poetry of Aging” at the Amherst Senior Center on Thursday.  John Berkowitz and Pat Schneider were the featured reading poets, although both shared many poems of other poets.

Pat Schneider is a Pioneer Valley fixture as a founder of Amherst Writers and Artists and author of 10 books of prose and poetry. She read, “Truth Enough,” a poem about aging that won First Prize in the Kudzu Poetry Contest and several other writers from the well-known Mary Oliver to local June Gillam.  John Berkowitz read “Old Ones” about people and trees from his book of poetry, Saving and Savoring the World, as well as several other local poets. Schneider and Berkowitz were a delightful combination.  Berkowitz does readings on aging at various places in the valley and Schneider also comes out occasionally to read.  Look for both of them under “Readings” in local papers.