Figuring Out Life While Aging
“Take care of yourself” they said
But I didn’t know how
to be
that selfish.
“Like on a plane with a dependant” they said
“And the oxygen masks drop down,
put yours on first;
that’s being responsible.”
Alone by the summer lake
There’s a breeze.
Beauty Everywhere- on the Streetcar
The older woman smiles at a baby;
the mother in a hijab smiles back.
The man with a tattoo sleeve
thanks the driver for his transfer.
The proper older lady in her white-trimmed navy blue dress
is gently guided by a dreadlocked younger woman.
The woman in the seat ahead
wears a butterfly-print shirt.
The teen in his black hoodie stands and gestures
the young mother into his seat.
Beauty everywhere.
***
Beauty Everywhere – on the Sidewalk
The young woman in ripped jeans walks
her bike through the intersection
Inside the coffeeshop an older man stops
reading to talk to a kid.
A woman in Tibetan dress walks
with a boy wearing a Spiderman Tee.
A little girl wearing a red polka-dot dress
waves at a streetcar driver.
A woman uses her phone to capture
a front yard flower for Instagram.
Beauty everywhere.
In this dark morning, I navigate
By electric green numbers
And red dots announcing
Civilization – but unaware, sleeping,
Perhaps more than vulnerable,
Lost, fearfully grasping poisonous
Barbarisms, eyes closed
To the common good.
The weight of undiscovered dreams
in my belly
shifts and
the clock that isn’t there
lights up.
Outside of hope
or fear
or understanding,
the orphan
Is restless.
The blanket,
now too heavy,
covers the blurry force of
a kind of morning.
Learning Living 