Richard Cecil

Wednesday 3-5:30; 3 Credit Hours

“This poem mocks old people — not okay,”
the Initiator of Discussion said
sternly to the Author who'd just read
“Ice Old Age.” “Yeah, it's like mocking gays,”
said Speaker Two. “You just can't get away
with imitating funny things the aged
say, like 'that's a knee slapper,' 'that's a head
scratcher,' and 'knickers in a twist.' No way!”
“But if the speaker IS old, can't he talk
and act old like a codger would?” I asked—
(some grinned when I said “codger”; some gasped)—
“like Shakespeare'd have an old man talk and walk?”
As a long time member of AARP,
I get away with talking just like me.

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Richard Cecil's fourth collection of poems, Twenty First Century Blues, was published by Southern Illinois University Press in 2004. He teaches at Indiana University, Bloomington, and at the Spalding University brief residency MFA program.