October 2021
Bio Note: My first book of poetry was released the week my young husband died, leaving me with a cherished four-year-old to raise. I had to work full-time, but after retirement wrote three mainstream novels published by Penguin Random House. These days I’m back with my first love, poetry, and a number of my recent poems have been published in literary magazines. Writing a novel, I’m always holding my breath—it’s so much like working a jigsaw puzzle, fitting in characters and adjusting plots; writing poetry, I exhale.
When You Least Expect It
In the beginning was the word and the word was…Surprise!
Abe’s wife Sarah had a dazzling revelation
At ninety she was preggers, how divine
And God said you’ll be mother to a nation
And Sarah said “An only child is fine.”
A welcome blessing this remarkable condition
And now God’s voice announced to all it was a son
So far past deadline,
it warranted a headline
In the Jerusalem Post, upper right, page one.
Lot’s wife is never named within the Bible
No name, just wife as far as readers know
Her shame it could be truth or might be libel
But either way, she livens up the show
The fire and brimstone did its job in Sodom
Its sinners died fried or smothered in the ash
(God the Author sure knows how to plot ‘em)
Gomorrah was reduced to steaming trash
Lot’s wife proclaimed sin fun and not a crime
But by holy rhyme and reasoning,
God turned her into seasoning,
A pillar of it till the end of time.
Young David felled Goliath, twice his size
The little dude defied bookmakers’ odds
He flung the stone between Goliath’s eyes
The fatal shot commanded by Dave’s God
Which proves beyond a shadow of a doubt
Beyond the calculations and the cautions
One well-placed stone can take a bully out.
Even a Philistine hunk of immense proportions.
Who would have thunk it?
In the beginning was the word and the word was… Surprise!
Did you expect how your life
rolled out, its trials and tribulations?
Triumphs and jubilations?
Did you anticipate
Harvard cum laude, success before forty, winning the lottery,
old age and doddery?
What I’ve learned from my own astonishments.
And from heaven’s ironic admonishments
is that nothing is quite as projected
and that dreams are too rarely respected.
There’s wheat and there’s chaff
Man plans and God laughs
So when you least expect it…expect it.
Don't Call Me Honey
I don’t want the cashier calling me dear
And the pharmacist calling me honey
I don’t want to be asked if I’m up to the task
Of loading my car
If the parking’s too far.
Just take my money.
As you lean in to pour my vintage de jour
You call me young lady and wink
My age was unsung, when I really was young
But I know what I am
And how long I’ve been
So please, server, just leave the drink.
Oh, don’t patronize me
Don’t dare minimize me
I still do aerobics and jog
I lift eight-pound barbells
Have most of my marbles
My head is not lost in a fog
My roots are still dark and I know how to park
I Facebook and iPhone and tweet
Sometimes on occasion, when I’m feeling brazen
My guy and I turn up the heat.
So please hold that pity
You pass off as witty
At my age I’m doing just fine
I’m nobody’s fool
This “young lady” is cool
So shut up and just pour the wine.
©2021 Toby Devens
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