f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

He’s always styled himself the family’s raconteur. Around the holiday table, where food, weather and health reports tend to be the primary topics of the elder generation, he would spice the conversation with odd tales from the internet, barbs for politicians and celebrities in the news, and opinions on new movies and recently-read books.

the pretty one?
not even
on the tip of my tongue

……………………… by dagosan

This year, though, he’s driving to Thanksgiving Dinner with a suitcase overstuffed with self-doubt. After years of joking about his “peri-dementia,” the joke is getting stale and the reality far from funny.  That damn tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon seems to happen all day, every day. And, frankly, the lost name or word sometimes is nowhere near the tip of his tongue.

“All the wrong synapses seem to be broken,” he said a few weeks ago, after flawlessly singing all the words to “Off My Cloud” and “Angie” on a Halloween party dance floor, but forgetting the name of the lovely, recently-divorced judge who convincingly exchanged her black robe for a cheerleader costume that night.

Heading down the Thruway, he can’t seem to recall the title (nor the plot) of either of those films he watched on dvd and really enjoyed earlier this week — much less the names of their Generation X leading men.  And, he can only picture the face of that annoying Senator from, um, that Rocky Mountain Red State, who wants to round up all the aliens at the meat-packing plants in one of those primary states.  He wonders if he’ll get a chance to see that new movie while home; the one based on the novel he praised so much a year or two ago, by — you know — that guy who wrote that trilogy and won the Pulitzer (or was it a Nobel)?

Uncle Vito’s scratchy voice returns from four decades ago, saying the pudgy 10-year-old “tells jokes like a girl” — restarting twice and forgetting the punchline. He wonders whether Vito’s widow will be bringing her infamous jello salad concoction, and if her hip operation was a success.

the octagenarian
fills in my blank ………….
again

………………………………. by dagosan, a/k/a david giacalone

“The Joy of a Peanuts Christmas” by Charles Schulz (Hallmark Books, 2000; cartoon originally published, Nov. 21, 1990)

mountain village–
the old man doesn’t know
the dance

cuckoo
what did you forget?
retracing steps

……… by Kobayashi Issa, translated by David G. Lanoue

early Alzheimer’s
she says she’ll have . . .
the usual

………………… by John Stevenson from Quiet Enough

mid-argument
the senior partner
has a senior minute

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by dagosan