GEOFF DEAN

Here am I

Old men walk old dogs tentatively on frosty pavements.

      Old women bent & gnarled from life’s servitude

                   sigh over lost years as they stare

                          into empty letter boxes.

 

  Out of hospital once again staving off the inevitable,

              wincing at the distant wail of a siren

                              but not alarmed,

           knowing this time it does not wail for me,

 

               Nevertheless, this is my street, my lot

               I wave my walking stick as salutation

                            that I am one of them.

 

Geoff Dean dabbled in poetry but was best known for his short story writing. His last book of short stories was A Literary Lunch [Roaring Forties Press]. A 1994 interview with Geoff can be found here.