Tribal Survival

This story in the San Francisco Chronicle inspired the poem below:

http://projects.sfchronicle.com/2016/living-with-aids/story/

Tribal Survival
3 March 2016

A part of me wanted to shed a tear,
But my well of feeling was so deep
It felt more like mourning’s nadir.
Profound feelings managed to seep
To the depths of my weary soul.
I was reading stories of long-term
Survivors of the hiv and AIDS  toll.
They coped while others became infirm,
And tended them until they expired.
The survivors living on to become
Victims themselves, overwhelmed and tired.
In some cases getting to be scum,
Too sick to work, but too healthy to perish;
Ending up in medical and financial limbo.
In an effort to avoid more nightmarish
Emotional trauma, they isolated in woe.
Still living and struggling to adjust,
In trying to keep it all together,
Some days it’s been a case of just
Putting one foot in front of the other.
But it’s not over until the fat lady sings.
Disappointment, joy, loss, love, despair,
Boredom, hope and gratefulness are fillings
For their individual stories of life’s scare.
In a few cases older men have connected.
Ultimately, who will be the last man standing;
The last man to tell his tale, respected
For enduring to the final disbanding?

Reborn Unicorn

Reborn Unicorn
5 March 2015

Once upon a time there was a little Ducky Waddles
Growing up and following his mother around.
He had fun splashing in all the rain puddles.
While swimming in the pond, his joy was unbound.
Poor Ducky Waddles, those activities
Didn’t prepare him for the troubles
Of aging into puberty’s sensitivities
With all its changes and struggles.
His voice dropped and his quack cracked,
And he noticed other oddities carefully.
His crest and tail feathers, as a matter of fact,
Grew much longer and came in very colorfully.
There was an itch on his forehead
Which he rubbed occasionally.
What a total surprise, instead of a blackhead,
A horn grew there functionally.
Ducky Waddles no longer fit as a name
Now that he had a mane, tail and horn.
He chose to announce and proclaim
That he be known as Quackicorn.