Within is a collaboration of serious, spiritual, humorous, cute, thought-provoking selections that, because they have a tendency to rhyme, are classified as odes. Subject matter covers everything including friendship, love, romance, death, relationships, pets, and life. Most have a bit of a twist at the end—thanks to years of admiring Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling, and then because I’m a comic, I have to make you laugh or at least smile, and because I’m philosophical, I have to make you think.

ODES FROM A Cluttered Mind

By SuniMiniPaw

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2012 SuniMiniPaw
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-6479-1

Chapter One

    Aging

    Medicare is looming,
    And I thought sixty-two was scary
    I'm just getting comfortable with social security
    But the thought of sixty-five makes me wary

    Like neon signs,
    The word Medicare is everywhere
    I look Glaring, flashing, letters in the mail,
    All right, you have me hooked

    Sixty two and social security
    Seemed to age me over night
    My waist dropped, my stomach popped,
    And my hair began turning white

    But that was just a dress rehearsal
    For what was yet to come
    Three years later, here I am,
    Older, wiser, but what have I won?

    I've won the chance to say "I made it",
    My name's not in the obit
    I've out lived most in my phone book,
    In the game of life, I'm not "IT"

    I've won the chance to age gracefully,
    Whatever the hell that means
    I try to look good for my age,
    And for time to live out my dreams

    I have to remind myself that that guy
    Is looking past and not at me
    And remind myself of the things
    I can and cannot do and see

    I must be mindful that although
    I may find him extremely sexy and cute
    I probably remind him of his Mom or Granny,
    Or an old bag he thinks has plenty of loot

    Must be careful not to act too young,
    Must dress and act my age, they say
    What does that mean— act my age?
    I shouldn't joke and play?

    I'm trying to get a handle
    On how the aging game is played
    The trick is to stay here as long as I can
    And keep the Grim Reaper at bay

Dedicated to all those trying to live long enough to grow old SuniMiniPaw 7/18/2009

    Baggage

    We were always told we as babies
    Arrive as clean slates with nothing written on it
    But folks would be surprised to know
    The stuff we drag here is more than just a little bit

    We bring in our traumas and death experiences
    And memories from the last lives we had
    We bring in our friends and relatives
    Our talents and skills—good and bad

    So often we pick up a past life
    To continue from where we left off
    Then there's that too familiar, too close for comfort relationship
    Or the way one's appearance begins to morph

    Things may just begin to "ring bells"
    And spark memories of another time
    Surreal flashbacks, uncomfortable yet comfortable surroundings
    Memories that are not quite yours, may very well be a sign

    There may be that fear we have no reason for
    Or that pain for which there's no intent
    Skills that appear from out of nowhere
    Prickly relationships filled with discontent

    Strange love affairs begin to develop
    Unexplained love with no rational
    A "knowing" of someone you really don't know
    Behavior— too familiar with someone who's simply a pal

    You question where the you who isn't you is coming from
    And what in life is going on
    People accuse each other of changing
    And suddenly not knowing right from wrong

    Little do people realize how quickly
    The blank slate starts to fill in
    Who knows the reason why one's nature changes
    Why one may be uneasy being in one's own skin

    Our DNA travels from one generation to another
    With certain traits flowing through time
    Traceable from not only this life as we know it
    But back through other lifetimes

    Yes, unless we're a brand new soul
    We undoubtedly have lived before
    Evidence of this is most notable
    In children under the age of four

    Parents though don't see this in their babies-
    Feedings and changings, their only mission
    How many look for watchful eyes-
    Eyes that stare with knowing recognition

    And how many listen to the babble and mumbling
    Of a child just learning speech?
    Most too anxious with correcting them
    And obsessed with what to teach

    Nevertheless, we all have baggage, dear people
    We all bring stuff in when we come to visit
    We forget we don't move in forever
    Because we're energy, our stay has a limit

    We all have an expiration date
    Which determines when we have to go
    So keep your bag by the door and stay ready
    Because our energy must continue to flow

Dedicated to all of us travelers SoniMiniPaw 2012

    Butt

    My butts in a rut and I don't understand why
    It no longer protects as it should
    From lumpy couches, hard chairs and floors
    And benches made out of wood

    I sit for a while, and then lose my smile
    As my butt, like a tooth, start to ache
    Then find myself shifting from one cheek to another
    As only my comfort's at stake

    I'm racked with thought with what to do
    As I ponder my position
    My butt's in a rut, fallen down on the job
    And I'm determined to find a solution

...