When he was a young adult
he would hear, maybe not
even listen, it was so repetitive,

to the words of general aches
and pains of his seniors.
He thought glibly to himself,

Get a life, folks, and then
later he realized it was what
they got when he himself, in

a reflexive pronoun, got
there, too, — for starters
he prides himself in his specificity

and not the ubiquitous general-
izations of the previous generation —
while his prostate apparently is

fine and he is old enough for
the digital exam to dedigitize,
his right testicle has to go,

the pinky finger size umbilical
hernia needs to be nipped in
the bud, the tendon in his

left hand should be cut because
it is pulling his hand into a fist,
giving his whole demeanor something

demeaning, a few varicosities
need to be sclerosed and most of
his joints make him feel like

the tin man in The Wizard of
Oz especially after a few too
many glasses of booze.