Dead as a doornail

Lily past its prime. New Yorker magazines past their sell-by date (last autumn!). Artificial flowers. Everything in this image is on the way to oblivion, or already there. Hence the funereal vase.

Chantler63 Shakespeare Challenge and National Poetry Writing Month
Well-known phrases from Shakespeare
Day 16: ‘as dead as a doornail’ (Henry VI)


EMERGENCY URGENCY

I am so gosh-darn busy.
My sell-by date is near.
My novel isn't done yet.
(It's posthumous, I fear.)

I cannot stop to linger
On blips I'd like to see.
My own is an example
Of blip emergency.

I really am quite desperate.
The pressure is so mean.
And that's why I'm composing
This poem right on the screen.

The header says to publish
So publish this I will
And then it's back to scribbling
My novel and my will.

To my departed dear ones:
I hope to see you soon.
This novel yet may kill me
In April, May, or June.

To those I leave to mourn me:
Please do not tax your head
By reading these New Yorkers
Whose news is all but dead.

This was fun while it lasted
But now the joys have paled.
I think you see my problem.
In fact I've got it nailed.

There could be lots more stanzas
But I will spare you from
The chore of further reading:
Delete, shred, or embalm.


Edit: This was my first sepia image and it may be my last. The image seemed muddled without color, and I liked the brightness of the original even though it doesn't go as well with the topic, so I exercised my female prerogative and changed my mind.

Edit: I just can't seem to get this to my pleasing. The previous one was too blue and too bright. This one is significantly desaturated.