Richard Quinby - A Passing Phase?

A passing phase,
Pus draining from a few
Festering sores,
A mild case of
Emotional diarrhea?

Or a turning point;
Am I a late bloomer
Coming at last
Into my own?

Will people someday
Look back
On my body of work
And say,
“Richard Quinby didn’t even begin
To write seriously till he was fifty.”
And hold me up as some
Poster boy for AARP?

Will I die
Alone,
Unknown, Unpublished?
Will my heirs
Discover
Hard drives and trunks
Filled with trite ditties
Or pay a few bills
With small yearly
Checks?

It amuses me
To think
Someday
Pompous college Professors
Will pontificate,
Boring freshmen
With dry discussions
Of Quinby’s early works;
Stilted Sentimentality showing
Little promise.

Perhaps my later works
Will be called,
“The writings of a poet
Matured and mellowed,
A seasoned craftsmen”
Or studied as:
“The ramblings of a madman,
A second rate Bukowski
Lost in the
Dark Despair
Of
Acute Alcoholism.”

I would settle
For either
Anything but
Living and dying
Only to pass
Into oblivion
And
Obscurity
Leaving a few faint
Marks quickly faded.

08/06/05

Richard Quinby

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-passing-phase/