don't forget-to-play

said Jimmy J

play

---

Jimmy J

i befriended
a young man
at the cemetery

• he was shopping
  for a place
  to be buried

—

i asked
why the rush
you’re hardly thirty

—

Jimmy rolled
up his loose-fitting
shirt-sleeves

• revealing tracks
  from too many
  operations¹

---

---

mortality

we sat
on the grass
by his gravesite

• in the shade
  of a generous
  tree

—

i offered
and he accepted
a bag of trail mix

he offered
and i accepted
a toke
and then another
of cali kush

---

final words

i asked
what will you write
on your headstone

—

i should have played more
he said
i should have played more

—

don’t
forget-to-play
said Jimmy J
as he turned
and walked away

---

courageous conversations about the human condition

---

---

if you value — the poems — & perspectives — i provide
you can always — make a one-time — gift
at Buy Me a Coffee
🙏🏼

1. he decided, last week, to let the cancer run its natural course.