Batteries by Michael Estabrook

I try to keep up but the youngsters
walk faster talk faster work faster eat faster
          play faster learn faster . . .
“Becomes harder every year doesn’t it”
quips another old man at the beach
in his floppy hat and Growing Old Ain’t
for the Faint Hearted t-shirt
watching me taking up the rear
clutching onto my towel and chair.
Sure does but at least I made it
          to the ocean
again this year best place
in the world to recharge the old batteries.



Michael Estabrook has been publishing his poetry in the small press since the 1980s. Hopefully with each passing decade the poems have become more succinct and precise, clear and relatable, more appealing and “universal.” He has published over 20 collections, the latest being Bouncy House, edited by Larry Fagin (Green Zone Editions, 2014).