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VII. Jim

by Eli Skipp

jim's offspring bring their offspring by once a week and he sits them down and fills their ears
with antiquated muck. he loves this muck. he pulls out old books and asks them "now what kind of
bomber was this?" and "can you tell me the name of the driver of this car?" and his grandchildren
will always go "aww gramps," and "that's the fifth time you've asked us. can't we watch tv?"

lucky for him, one grandchild totally digs all of this stuff. this one sits in rapt
attention and never removes her eyes from his face, holds his hand, watches campy old british
sci-fi with him until the day grows long. it should be noted that jim has a severe form of autism
haunting his genes. his sister, dead by now, poor thing, whom he loved dearly because she was
just a babe no matter how old she got had it, and so does this grandchild. jim doesn't mind. he
just pulls off her socks over and over again and cleans up her spilled glasses, happy to have an
audience.

03/05/2010

Author's Note: Jim is exceptionally passionate about obscure subjects and Dr. Who.

Posted on 03/05/2010
Copyright © 2025 Eli Skipp

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Coleman Demiurge on 03/06/10 at 12:22 AM

While the whole of the "how my friends will age" series is very impressive, this one here impressed me the most. The way you can see things and then convey them into words so incredibly well and effortlessly, or seemingly without effort, is quite extraordinary... I know I'm envious. Anyway, this one in particular, it's very poignant, which is a little strange because it's written in sort of a matter-of-fact kind of manner. A testament to your talent to be sure & proof that style and/or form can be completely ineffectual. From reading this, Jim, to me, comes off as sort of a tragic (or tragic to be) individual, but the incredible thing about him is that he does not seem to know it, or he does know it and just doesn't let that be known to others... And that's something to be admired. Then again, perhaps I'm just reading way more into it than I should be - I tend to do that sometimes. Anyway, you're an odd form of genius, kid; one I'm continuously in awe of. Excellent work as usual, with all of them. Very, very well done.

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