Kim Kemmer is a third year Creative Writing major at Vancouver Island University. Her work has been featured in the 2013 edition of Portal magazine and will be featured in the upcoming 2014 edition. In 2010, Kim won the Kevin Robert’s Poetry Award Scholarship. “Ol’ Neil” was inspired by Kim’s life-long hero, Canadian musical icon Neil Young.
Ol’ Neil
Old Man,
Ol’ Neil,
With Old Black in hand
You’ve changed
You’ve greyed
No more a young man.
Now older
Now slower
Hair still untamed.
Face loosened
and thinner
with lines of age.
Brown boots
Brown hat
Both faded and frayed.
Eyes gleaming
Still wild
Like old songs still played.
Voice crackles
and falters
but hits every note.
Hands calloused
and wrinkled
and words softer spoke.
Sideburns
Still curled
But now growing fine.
Grey roots
Grey eyebrows
Receeding hairline.
Ol’ Neil,
You Old Man,
With Old Black in hand
Time’s aged you
It’s greyed you
But still Young you stand.