This week’s poem in the Catholic Poetry Room is by Alan Altany.
Septuagenarian Memoirs No. 50
Out of the depths
a rumbling surprise,
desolation of isolation
in old age chronology
like a lonely loon
wailing at dusk
unheard
in the darkening
into night,
pangs in my blood
& scarred soul,
final season
of solitude
without abandoning
creative hope,
rising at 4 am
writing poetry
alone
with God
alone
Alan Altany has BA and MA degrees in Catholic Theology, and a Ph.D. in Religious Studies (University of Pittsburgh). After an academic career, he is a semi-retired, septuagenarian professor of Comparative Religions at a small college in Florida. He was the founder and editor of a small magazine of poetry (The Beggar’s Bowl), a high school teacher and university professor, factory and lawn maintenance worker, hotel clerk, novelist, delivery truck driver, etc. He has published three books of poetry for a series, “Christian Poetry of the Sacred”: A Beautiful Absurdity (2022), The Greatest Longing (2023), and Intimations (2024). His poetry has been published by Tipton Poetry Journal, Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Valley Voices, Sand Hill Literary Magazine, The Hong Kong Review, North Dakota Quarterly, Montreal Review, and others. He writes with the steadfast support of his golden retriever, Zeke.
Website: https: www.alanaltany.com.
