No five-year
plan for me
Aging limits
my outlook
so, each
day I wake up
looking
forward to
breakfast
and dinner,
speaking to
my children,
watching
films and news on cable,
reading novels
and poetry,
Newsday,
NYT, Washington Post;
inspiration
to write poems,
pretzels,
caramels and cookies,
going
to sleep at night
Mother,
Momma, Mom
Different
names
for the
source
from whence
we sprang
What did
Mother,
Momma, Mom
do for us
Everything
Along with
total love,
she taught
us
to whistle
tie our
shoes
and made
all
of our
meals
A woman
ensnares a man
in Carolyn
Heilbrun’s analysis:
“the rest
is aging and regret”
On the
other side of that grim coin
are the
fruits of a joyful marriage:
pleasure,
connection, children
Your
experience could be
the luck of
the draw,
or perhaps the
product
of a life
lived well or ill
The quote
comes from Heilbrun’s book,
WRITING A
WOMAN’S LIFE.
I stumble and fall
yet the light I see
few men see
I have come to know
what I sought to know
and having known
pass as if I never were
yet I am
If there is respite
from this dreadful road
I sink into the joy
of that moment
then stumble on
(Poem is based on James Mason’s character
in the 1947 film, ODD MAN OUT. Roman Polanski repeatedly cited Odd Man Out as
his favorite film, according to a Wikipedia entry.)
