Crazy Old People

By: Amali Wijesena

They grab and touch,

talk without prompt,

about you,

your hair, 

your race

your stuff.

85-year-old men giving unwelcome winks 

they grab your arm,

to hold you hostage in conversation.

Naked grandmas walking around,

in the public pool changing room.

Are they too senile to notice,

or have they lived so long,

seen so much,

experienced every moment ten times over,

they just don't care.

A body is a body.

A mind is a mind.

Do they know something we don't,

or are they senile?

A grandma on a balcony watering her plants,

wearing no underwear burned into my mind's eye.