Author’s Note: “This is a poem about aging, a topic that often comes to mind now that I am well into my eighth decade. It’s rooted first in the three memories of Camp Rodney, where I went as a boy scout in the 1950s. At my age it’s a commonplace that memories of early life tend to be more vivid than memories of more recent times. As these three ran through my mind, I was startled to realize that they were all about the same time and place because they seemed so separate as they occurred to me. That took me to the notion of dissolution, where I know I am headed, as are we all eventually. One of the better-known poems of this genre is Robert Frost’s ‘An Old Man’s Winter’s Night.’ ”
Entropy
My memories separate.
Lose their arc of identity.
No longer imply a self.
No gravity binds them.
A boy at Camp Rodney
on the North East River
decked by Charlie Eyler’s
longer arm, different from
the boy who swims half a mile
in five-foot, tidewater swells,
different from the boy
who hates living in tents.
They are more separate,
than not, cohering
into momentary self
then ricocheting off
on the way back
to the atoms
I started from,
the collection
containing me,
and not me,
randomly.
Arnie Yasinski is a retired college administrator, born American and now living in Ireland with his Irish wife. He’s a father and grandfather with a PhD in English and BA from Indiana University. He wrote his first poem at fifty and has published poetry in four dozen US journals. He has two collections, Proposition and God Lives in Norway and Goes by Christie, both published by 21st Century Renaissance press in Ireland. He earned an MBA in finance from University of Michigan.
Website: arnieyasinskipainterpoet.com
“Entrope” was published in the Delmarva Review Volume 15, a nonprofit literary journal that selects the most compelling new poetry, nonfiction, and short fiction from thousands of submissions during the year. It is available worldwide from Amazon.com and other online bookstores. The review is designed to encourage outstanding new writing from authors everywhere. Support comes from tax-deductible contributions and a grant from Talbot Arts with funds from the Maryland State Arts Council. Website: www.DelmarvaReview.org.
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