PoetJimHall

Poetry and Potpourri by Jim

Welcome to my blog. It was created mainly to make my poetry easily accessible but I’m also including various other stuff I’ve written. Most of the contents are from the past couple of years; I began writing poems very late in my long life. Don’t know why, although I do have a long history of writing, mainly professional things related to my long time on the faculty of Northwestern University. I am an emeritus professor now and my field was experimental psychology, now often termed cognitive psychology. My poems and other writing probably reflect my interest in that subject and in the broader topic of humans and their place on this planet, what we are, how we got that way, and where we are heading.

My Poems are organized into three categories. First are the Amusement, which I wrote just for fun and are far from profound. Then are poems that relate in some way to my earlier years, which I call Memories. Finally, I find myself trying to express more serious thoughts in poems; I call these Ideas and Thoughts, although I will not vouch for the quality of the ideas. If you read any of the poems, I suggest that you read them aloud; poetry seems more appealing when you hear the poems, I think.

Finally, there are the prose things. Some are what you might call memory sketches, or Looking Back – relating to people or events from the past – – my past. Others are pieces of fiction: short Stories or parts of short stories. Finally, there are ideas that I’ve jotted down. The result is to categorize all this as Looking Back, Stories, and Ideas and Thoughts. I’m not sure who might be interested in any of these.

I don’t know why I’ve gotten into writing all these poems; I do not have proper training in poetry, unlike my daughter, Julie Hall. But it has been fun, and I thank my friends and family members, especially my wife, Karen, for their encouragement. It was Karen who particularly liked the idea of making them accessible this way.

Enjoy!

– POEMS –

Memories

– OTHER WRITINGS –

Looking Back

Stories

Ideas and Thoughts

Final View About Jim

I have shocking and sad news about Jim.

Jim wrote this on Tuesday Dec. 17, 2024:

I fell a month ago and broke my right elbow and right femur. Just as I thought I was ready for another heroic comeback, my medical situation went south. Surging bad pain in the arm with the crunched elbow. That happened in what was intended to be, and in fact was, my final night in skilled nursing, last Friday the 13th. The idea of staying longer was terrible in my mind. Karen and Michael from Fallbrook took me home to our house Saturday feeling in pain and helpless. I have had to use a walker for the last three years and I have to put some weight on my right arm to use it safely. Whatever happened Friday night made it clear that I would not be able to do that in the future. I cannot envision a future not walking at all.

We called Dr. Bob of Empowered Endings with whom we were acquainted and zoomed with him that afternoon. I am at the beginning stage of VSED. Please read about this to know what I am doing. Now the question – Why? Too complex to describe. Just know that I have spent a lot of time in thought on this through the years and especially now, and this is what I want to do. There are no rights and wrongs. For sure I want a gentle ending. This is a very good time for me to fly the coop. I will not witness the next presidential term. And no more pain.

It’s hard to imagine finer friends than you have been to me. You will miss me I know, and I would miss you if I could. I give you love. Jim

From Karen writing on Dec 22, 2024:

Jim died at 5:22 this morning. He had wonderful visits with the kids who flew in. He held on with not enough morphine so that he could have time with each of them. He was cogent and joking until yesterday morning when he said he had to go. The hospice nurses were great and gave him every two hours the maximum doses of morphine and anti-anxiety drug, both of which are very helpful in this situation. The speed with which he went shows the strength of his wish to depart now.

Jim has been writing poetry for the last year or so. They cover a range of topics from amusing to philosophical. Check out his blog: poetJimHall.blog. You will hear his special voice in those poems. Below I have put a picture of the poem I selected to put with the memorial rose our senior facility puts out for each death.

His body was just picked up. He is going to earthfuneral.com a very green process that slowly turns the body into compost and is better for the earth than cremation. I will get some compost back which family members can use as wanted.

Winter solstice was yesterday. So, Jim died at the dawning of a new celestial year. He is out wandering around the universe somehow/someplace. Listen for his voice. Love, Karen

The Glen puts out a rose and a picture when a resident dies. I put out a poem Jim had written that is relevant now. Here is how it looked.

Prose of poem above:

Ciao Baby

I recall a certain dinner guest
who lingered on after all the rest

A guest we feared would never leave
Whose departure led none of us to grieve

With that in mind here’s my farewell
As I listen for my final bell

What will nature do with this old man
I suppose she’ll do the best she can

Atoms scattered far and wide
Carried by the cosmic tide

No worries about my grandkids’ futures
No bandages, splints, or painful sutures

Of my friends who’ve gone on before me
None said they were treated poorly

No worries cause their brows to furrow
No concerns about what goes tomorrow

They’ve slipped their tethers, flown the coop
Joined their families in the galactic soup

Although I don’t yearn to jump the final gun
I won’t feel cheated when my visit’s done