My left knee was replaced 10 days ago. Recovery is a hard slog but there are small signs of improvement. I can now lift my surgical leg up into bed without help, which in turn allows Linda – for the first time since my surgery – to sleep through the night without getting up to help me. Hallelujah! I expect to be back to the regular publishing schedule (a new poem every Monday) on Monday, May 22, 2023.

Today a few friends from high school will bring me lunch. I generally agree with the old saw that “friends come into our life for a reason or a season,” but – for whatever reasons and unlike many others – these guys stayed for the long haul and I am grateful to them for that.

I have almost finished reading my first post-surgical book, ‘The Killer Angels’ by Michael Shaara, which is the story of Gettysburg as told through the eyes of various Confederate and Union officers. It is a novel which does not stray far – not far at all – from the events of that decisive battle. ‘The Killer Angels’ is often called the best novel of the American Civil War and I am glad to be reading it at last. The book has inspired me to combine my three Gettysburg poems into a suite, which I will accomplish and post here as energy allows. If interested, buy the book from a local bookstore here.

Set forth below is the full extent of original writing I have done since my surgery. I will likely move it to my ‘Warm-Up Exercises’ file, the place where I keep writings deemed worth preserving but unlikely to evolve into anything substantial. Perhaps I should call it my ‘It Is What It Is’ file.

A man I knew told me,
when we were both in our 40's,
that he had never taken a nap.
Not once, in his entire life.

He said it proudly,
wearing as a badge of honor
this clear proof of superiority
over any man who had ever napped.

I rarely think of him
and, truth be told, 
don’t miss him much at all.

            (J Neely, 5/10/23)

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. A New Poem Every Monday
(tho’ sometimes life gets in the way)

Joseph Neely, all rights to original material reserved.