I did it, yes, I committed

the one crime no one forgives.

Believe me when I say that

I tried not to. But I did it.

I confess. And even now I find it hard

to name my crime: I grew old.

Joshua McKinney’s most recent collection of poetry is Small Sillion (Parlor Press 2019). He is the recipient of the University of Georgia Press Poetry Series Open Competition, the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize, the Dickinson Poetry Prize, and a Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative American Poetry. His work has appeared in such journals as American Letters & Commentary, Boulevard, Colorado Review, Denver Quarterly, Kenyon Review, New American Writing, and many others. He teaches poetry writing and literature at California State University, Sacramento. A longtime student of Japanese swords arts, he is a member of Senkakukan Dojo of Sacramento.

Editor’s note: This poem is in the traditional Korean form know as sijo.