ADVICE FROM AN AGING POET

by Al Winans

sing like a hammer sings to a nail tread softly through the night where dreams lay like land mines waiting to explode on the tattooed dawn

Run barefoot with children in the park listen to the sound of their breath be reborn in the innocence of their eyes Ignore your enemies’ false prophets who drown in quicksand

Wrap your head in a song bag lock your ego in the clothes closet wear the ears of a monk the eyes of an owl

Be a one-person choir light up the sky like a million fireflies on their way to a feast with the moon