Stinky Cheese

During the years I worked for Social Security, I spent many hours visiting clients in nursing homes and medical care facilities. There is an odor that permeates such facilities -- one I came to  think of as the smell of advanced age. As I advance, I fear developing that characteristic...

Stinky Cheese

The silent passing wind in our abode,
Leaves more than saintly treacle in its wake:
A distant dance of offal a la mode,
In league with moldy stockings -- baked in cake.
Like all creatures that venture forth to die,
Our species slowly ripens without cease.
Seasoned with sun and salted when we cry,
We age akin to wheels of stinky cheese.
Active in our youth, we mix with others,
Homogenous, we seek to be the same.
Time brings differences with sisters, brothers,
And others, as we all seek who to blame.
You may call it character, if you please,
But winds of change have made us stinky cheese.

Mick McKellar
January 2025