Sunday, July 31, 2011

When I’m 67

It's time for some Poetry Jam & I am the chef du jour. I was dismayed to realize after reading the prompt (that I wrote, mind you) that I didn't have any idea what I was going to do about it. Here's what I said:

...write about what you think your life will be like at age 67. If you're already there, then tell us what your life is like now. And while you're at it, write in a form you don't usually use. If you're a rhymer, don't rhyme. If you're not a rhymer, rhyme.

Well I have to say I did not find that to be a very easy prompt (sorry!). Of course, I'm not really feeling the poetry these days anyway. But I prevailed & wrote the following. I didn't feel like rhyming, so what's different about this poem is that I made the lines a lot longer than I usually do. Woo and hoo. Heh. Anyway, after you read this one please go here to read what other poets have written.


When I’m 67

There are two versions of my life –
the one I’m living and the one that I want to live.
Shifting to ease my ancient bones
I list the sins that that litter the doorway
between the two.

There is avarice and a toddler’s egotism
and the belief that now is all that will ever be –
that bread today might not be here tomorrow.
It makes me sad, to see my mean spirit
exposed this way.

Not everything needs to be swept away.
My heart is sometimes opened wide for love –
opened wide for God’s least of these (amen) –
and opened wide for justice most of all.
Opened wide.

I look down that long road with hope
that I’ve made it through that coveted doorway.
But mostly, I want a desk, a chair, a descendent of
this computer and you with that irresistible dimple
just there.

10 comments:

  1. i love the door opening wide for love and justice ~

    "I list the sins that that litter the doorway between the two. "

    i can't survive too without the computer, and this one is sweet..

    "you with that irresistible dimple just there. "

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  2. The dimple is the clincher... ♥

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  3. Sounds like a contented person, to me;-)

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  4. As I gain on 67, I can only hope my mind will open as wide as yours apparently already is.

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  5. A guide for aging ~~ I wish for a dimple on my cheek ~~ my face cheek!!!

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  6. I'm about to wave 67 goodbye! but I can say that it wasn't boring.... your verse is lovely if this is what you write when not up to scratch then I can't wait to read what you write when you are really in the zone!

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  7. Oh, I love how this ends, with a dimple. And being open wide. I wish I was more often. A thinker, this one!

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  8. I like the voice of this narrator, Dana. There's a wry eloquence here, a gravity, something I haven't identified in your work before. I like the images of the doorway and of the bread, and especially the good strong last one.

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  9. You have nailed the secret of growing old gracefully: be open to every opportunity, to people and to ideas. Nice poem.

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  10. I love the sense of wonder you write so well in these lines, Dana.

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Thanks for stopping by - I'd love to hear what you have to say!

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