milestone

myself as older
coming into focus.
Each year now going forward
closer to a memory of
my mother until one day
*snap* it's clear! She and I have
had the same day, 35 years apart.
Aging is not linear, it's circular.
Or maybe U-shaped.
Or a C? There is a gap. God willing,
A stop. A poet can't be good till
45, I've heard, so no need to worry yet.
I might live longer than my mother.
I might not. This is also
part of your lives. Your lives
are part of my lives. You can
be both tragic and a toon, say
something so uninteresting
it threatens all our very lives,
and yet it is a joy to hear it.