Ed Krizek

Meditation on Buddhist Thought In the room I forgot ...the closet sags with the sudden weights of regret
From “Thistles” by Philip Levine
When I was youngI promised myselfI would never forgetwhat being youngfelt like.The first timeI fell in loveI expected to love forever.When I was madI thoughtI would never be sane again.Now I find timehas worn away parts of methe way wind and watererode the permanence of stone.Tokens of remembrancehang on my wallslike museum artifacts.They speak in metaphorof struggle, love, pain.I see these trophies,rememberwhere they came frombut cannot feeltheir potencynor the exaltationand angst spentin their acquisition.Time has passed---I am olderhave lived longer.Perhaps this is the wayof the end---slowlylosing a pieceor two.

Ed Krizek was born in New York City and now runs a sales and marketing business in Swarthmore, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. He holds a BA and MS from University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA and MPH from Columbia University. He is active in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, has published over forty-five articles, poems and short stories in various publications, and won prizes in several poetry and short story competitions including the Mad Poets Society contests from 2006, 2001 and 1999 and Pennsylvania Poetry Society Contest 2007.