Jerry Krajnak Seasonal

Seasonal

A gray-haired man in faded trunks wades the shallows and hears the echo of a song that brings a smile of recognition to his wrinkled face. He recalls ecstatic dives from summer boards, the shrieks of heedless youth at play, the joy of youthful flesh on flesh.

Cured now of that brief disease, he prefers more grace than noise in those things he loves: a rocker on a cabin porch, a pond below, a warmish one, to share with little fish who kiss his hairy legs, or poems and tea beside a sunny window.

Obliged to pause before he steps through all revolving doors or from curbs, he waits until the signs say Walk. He lets younger runners sprint, no longer strains from frantic need to hurry life along, halts with respect at every intersection as if to tell each one goodbye.

Jerry Krajnak

Jerry Krajnak is a Vietnam veteran who later survived forty-plus years in public school classrooms. He began sending out poems for other than close friends to see in 2021. Eleven have been published. He shares a mountain cabin with rescue animals and, when lucky, an occasional grandchild.