COLD COMFORT By George J. Searles

If you have the sense

that each year seems worse

than the one before,

Relax. You’ve not lost

your marbles; you’re right.

It is worse. Much worse.

So, what can y’do?

The only thing that might help:

Cough it up for another round.

George J. Searles teaches English & Latin at Mohawk Valley Community College (Utica NY) and has also taught creative writing on the upstate campus of Pratt Institute (Brooklyn) and graduate courses for The New School (NYC). Widely-published, he's a former Carnegie Foundation NYS "Professor of the Year" and is currently editor of Glimpse, a poetry annual. His collection Escape from Jersey City is forthcoming from Clare Songbirds. His all-time favorite bar is The Brown Derby (Poughkeepsie NY).