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Open Poetry #12
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Life at Fifty-Five
| Open Poetry #12 |
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Life at Fifty-Five |
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Mabel A. Dilley Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 859Seattle, WA, USA |
 In this photograph, circa 1960, my eyes penetrate like black diamond lasers arrogant in their defiance of any living thing or person. Life goes on. One day you ask yourself whose laughter spills from your throat? You wonder where the years went and search old journals for answers. With horror you recognize your mother’s face staring back from the bathroom mirror. Furrowed lines cling to each scar. No make-up will cure this. You contemplate plastic surgery. Notice the eyes, is their intensity dimmed by an inherited sadness? Perhaps the memory of Montana wind sets the grooves along your mouth. You write an obituary: “here lies a woman of kindness and grace.” This will not be true. You ran down hallways and into classrooms filled with children, beat your fists against walls of ignorance until they fell, laughed at the wind, demanded more passion and more life. Quickly you tear up the obituary and immediately take yourself out for an ice cream cone and a beer. "I am not now that which I have been." |
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| © Copyright 2001 Mabel A. Dilley - All Rights Reserved | |||
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RMW Senior Member
since 2001-03-21
Posts 1424 |
Julian, Thanks for sharing. Now, pass the beer? Bob P.S. Montana, huh? Billings, Bozeman, Missoula? Great Falls? |
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Panne415 Member
since 2001-03-21
Posts 104San Antonio |
JL, A very nice read. Sounds like the opening to a short story or a book about life at 55 or maybe even a closing - Thanks for sharing this. I liked the defiant eyes of youth line - very good- showed a lot in those few words - maybe you might write a piece on just those eyes... Panne |
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Bill Charles Member Patricius
since 2000-07-11
Posts 10619highways, & byways, for now |
Julian Lester - I like it, I like it. I'll join you for that ice cream and beer. BC |
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Trillium 
since 2001-03-09
Posts 12098Idaho, USA |
Clever poem and well written. I'd like some of the ice cream please! Betty Lou Hebert |
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Katherine Chandler Member
since 2001-03-07
Posts 280Florida, USA |
Mabe, I loved this one. I'd like to be the one to write your obit.. I'd say: "Here lies Mabel, she never met a beer or an ice cream cone she didn't like".. The poem ROCKED.. just as you do dear! Shalom  KateGenuine poetry can communicate before it is understood. |
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tradewind Member
since 2001-03-25
Posts 101 |
Excellent! I can't add more than that! |
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Mabel A. Dilley Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 859Seattle, WA, USA |
The beer and ice cream are on me, but I think we're going to have to chip in for the pizza. Thick or thin crust? RMW: that Montana locale is Whitefish. We had an all 60's reunion last summer and doubled the town's population! Panne: those eyes have lost their obsidian density, and have gone pretty mellow. It looks like our party should move south, 'cause Betty and I are the out-numbered Northerners in the bunch. San Antonio or Huntsville sound pretty good to me. I was going to say Florida, but Katie needs a trip away from the humidity and heat for a bit. Maybe we good throw in a bit of the slide boogie one night. Sound good to you guys? Take care and thank you for reading my poetry. Much appreciated. "I am not now that which I have been." |
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duke Junior Member
since 2001-03-26
Posts 12 |
Liked this, Especaially the humour and irony it has about years the pass by without your noticing |
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