I won for a few years

it was when I self-published my book

When Twilight Begins

poems flowed

i’d carry a notebook — poems flowed while walking

or sitting in a sports bar

or sitting on my apartment couch

//////

more books published, maybe 2 a year

sold in bookstores —

waldenbooks, dalton booksellers,

barnes & noble, borders

books-a-million & gift shops

& college bookstores

//////

i thought the winnings were mine forever

i thought the good times would never end

then in the mirror

my youth turned into

an aging face

//////

i dated

and thought love would never end

//////

i didn’t know that when races are won

one day

there’s not another win

//////

letters from ladies slowed

my phone stopped ringing

//////

no one brought

snacks and drinks to enjoy

night

any

more

__________________________

(Jim Wortham, August 9, 2022)