[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-449410-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":81,"doc-detail-449410-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":74,"head_meta":76,"extra_data":78,"updated_unix":80},105,"en","towers-of-aging","Towers of Aging","","Towers of Aging is a poetry collection organized into four parts—“Suddenly I Am Old and Lonely,” “The Towers,” “We Fall Down,” and “We Fly Up”—following an elder’s inner journey through decline, endurance, humor, fear, and hope. The preface frames the work through the author’s study of time and mortality and his wife’s cancer experience, which led them to senior living in a Twin Cities tower community. Across the book, daily routines, conversations, losses, and spiritual reflections shape a candid, humane portrait of aging and its changing meaning.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/","Story & Novel",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/towers-of-aging/449410/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/towers-of-aging/449410.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Mabel","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-31","2026-09-30",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What inspired the writing of Towers of Aging?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Three earlier poetry books led the author toward writing Towers of Aging, and ongoing concerns about time, mortality, and grace continued into this project. The author’s wife’s cancer diagnosis and treatment also brought aging and illness into sharp focus.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How is the book structured?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The contents are divided into four parts: “Suddenly I Am Old and Lonely,” “The Towers,” “We Fall Down,” and “We Fly Up,” each grouping poems around changing stages of life and inner experience.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What role does senior living in the West Tower play in the book?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"The preface describes living among West and East Tower residents and observing daily routines, health declines, medical visits, and moments of good spirits. These observations form the lived backdrop for the poems about becoming and being old.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},449410,1790825318,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,87,91,95,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":85,"slug":86},90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":88,"show_sort_weight":89,"slug":90},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":92,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":96,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":22,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},7971474920318,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/74000ee537e6b0ca360?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1788430171632181674","CIOWeIS OIAgingJoseph A.Amato  \nDigitized by the Internet Archivein 2022 with funding fromKahle/Austin Foundation  \n531)  \n# Towers ofAging\n\nJoseph A.Amato  \nTowers of Aging  \nJoseph A.Amato  \nTowers of Aging  \nJoseph A.Amato  \nCopyright O2020,Joseph A.Amato.All rights reserved.No part of this book maybe used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission exceptin the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.  \nBook coordination and design by WendyJ.Johnson of Elder Eye Press-a designand concierge publishing house dedicated to designing with the best designpractices for legibility and clarity,to benefit all eyes,of all ages  \nThe cover illustration was compiled from public domain copyright-free images ofPieter Bruegel's Tower of Babeland Custave Doré's Paradiso by Dante Alighieri.  \nTypeset in Goldenbook-a typeface designed in 2003 as an art deco version ofclassic Roman letterforms.  \nFirst Edition,2020  \nAmato,Joseph A.  \nTowers ofAging/byJoseph A.AmatoISBN-13:9781676730439(alk.paper)  \nCrossings Press,12800 Marion Lane West,\\#705Minnetonka,MN 55305,USAwww.josephaamato.com  \nManufactured in the United States of America by the KDPIndependent PublishingPlatform.  \nCONTENTS  \ni Prefaceiii Introductionxi Dedicationxii Prelude-Wake Up,Spring Will Come  \nPART ONE:SuddenlyIAm Old and Lonely  \n3 ALife in Outline4 Awake,5 Stem  \n6 ASeason of Long Migrations7 Dad's Hammering8 Past Seventy-Seven10 Worker Saints11 My Cousins12 Words'Way  \n13 ADead Poet Instructs Me  \n14 Yeats Teaches an Old Caddy to Pray15 An Ammonite16 In the Game?17 Heart Beats18 Escaping the Dark19 We Dance On  \n20 Can't Go Back to Sleep21 The Band Has Gone By22 Confession ofan Old Captain  \nPART TWO:The Towers  \n25 Arrival  \n26 Wake Up My Spirit27 ICounsel Myself28 Bingo!30 The Game  \n31 Hells Bells,and LL's  \n32 Winter in the Elevator  \n33 A Saint  \n34 West Tower  \n39 The East Tower of the Rising Sun  \n# PART THREE:We Fall Down\n\n47 Around and Around  \n48 She Skipped and Skipped  \n49 In the Fall  \n50 Trampoline  \n51 Our Fallen Dead  \n52 Mutterings About an Old War  \n# PART FOUR:We Fly Up\n\n55 Towards Life Again  \n56 An Argument  \n57 Discovery ofAbundance  \n58 Moving On  \n59 My Walking Stick  \n60 Jericho,Jericho,and Let the WallsCome Tumbling Down  \n61 Consolations in the Atrium  \n62 AHummingbird's Release  \n65 AFTERWORD INAPHORISMS:The Old Are Me  \n# PREFACE\n\nThree of my recent poetry books pointed me in the direction ofI writing Towers ofAging.  \nIn Buoyancies:A Ballast Master's Log(2014),I meditatedon how an old man needs grace and hope to remain afloat and inbalance in mid-life and after.  \nIn My Three Sicilies:Stories,Poems,and Histories(2016),l examined the ancient fate ofmy grandmother,Rosalia,and herhomeland—beautiful and tragic Sicily.  \nIn Diagnostics:The Poetics of Time(2017),I sought to suggesthow humans of alltimes seek to know their fortunes and fates.  \nThese three have roots in a life-long preoccupation with passingtime and annihilating death.This concern with time and mortalitycontinued and was given form in my study and teaching ofhistory andphilosophy.  \nl first expressed these concerns in writing Death Book:Terrors,Consolations,Contradictions,and Paradoxes(1985),and fifteenyears later in Bypass:AMemoir(2000).  \nJust over four years ago,my wife,Catherine,mother ofour fourchildren and mate and companion for more than fifty years,receivedher first serious initiation into aging when she was diagnosed withcancer.Since then her regular treatments at the Mayo Clinic(withfavorable results),brought home to us how illness,sickness,anddisease can go hand-in-hand with being old.  \nThe proximity ofmedical treatment and a growing desire tolive near children and grandchildren led us to leave our forty-yearhome in rural southwestern Minnesota for the Twin Cities.There,inMinnetonka,a western suburb,we took up residence in a large seniorhousing complex called Ridge Pointe.  \nWe have lived for the last four years on the sev","cbCaicKd84QABxuS","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaicKd84QABxuS","pdf",3134210,94,"English","# Preface\n# Introduction\n# Dedication\n# Prelude - Wake Up, Spring Will Come\n# Part One: Suddenly I Am Old and Lonely\n## A Life in Outline\n## Awake\n## Stem\n## A Season of Long Migrations\n## Dad's Hammering\n## Past Seventy-Seven\n## Worker Saints\n## My Cousins\n## Words' Way\n## A Dead Poet Instructs Me\n## Yeats Teaches an Old Caddy to Pray\n## An Ammonite\n## In the Game?\n## Heart Beats\n## Escaping the Dark\n## We Dance On\n## Can't Go Back to Sleep\n## The Band Has Gone By\n## Confession of an Old Captain\n# Part Two: The Towers\n## Arrival\n## Wake Up My Spirit\n## I Counsel Myself\n## Bingo!\n## The Game\n## Hells Bells, and LL's\n## Winter in the Elevator\n## A Saint\n## West Tower\n## The East Tower of the Rising Sun\n# Part Three: We Fall Down\n## Around and Around\n## She Skipped and Skipped\n## In the Fall\n## Trampoline\n## Our Fallen Dead\n## Mutterings About an Old War\n# Part Four: We Fly Up\n## Towards Life Again\n## An Argument\n## Discovery of Abundance\n## Moving On\n## My Walking Stick\n## Jericho, Jericho, and Let the Walls Come Tumbling Down\n## Consolations in the Atrium\n## A Hummingbird's Release\n## Afterword\n## Aphorisms: The Old Are Me","[{\"question\":\"What inspired the writing of Towers of Aging?\",\"answer\":\"Three earlier poetry books led the author toward writing Towers of Aging, and ongoing concerns about time, mortality, and grace continued into this project. The author’s wife’s cancer diagnosis and treatment also brought aging and illness into sharp focus.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the book structured?\",\"answer\":\"The contents are divided into four parts: “Suddenly I Am Old and Lonely,” “The Towers,” “We Fall Down,” and “We Fly Up,” each grouping poems around changing stages of life and inner experience.\"},{\"question\":\"What role does senior living in the West Tower play in the book?\",\"answer\":\"The preface describes living among West and East Tower residents and observing daily routines, health declines, medical visits, and moments of good spirits. These observations form the lived backdrop for the poems about becoming and being old.\"}]","Towers of Aging | PDF",1790730140,145]