April 2022
Bio Note: I started writing poetry at age six, and (drumroll) at age 72, my first poetry book is now out in the world! To Drink from a Wider Bowl, (Evening Street Press, April 1, 2022) connects the dots between then and now. Here's the opening poem.
Old Folks
weather things. We hold our tongues when young women bemoan their first gray hairs, we doze off to dream mid-afternoons on worn, cushioned couches, then lie with unclosed eyes through the deep holes of night. There’s a haze that hovers above dates, faces, places – when was the summer of the beach house in Ocracoke? Which snow rose over the sills? Memory no longer chirrs like an eager bird easing into morning wings, sipping on rain that drips from every rafter. Time stretches like an accordion, stores lullabies, love songs and funeral chords between its folds. We are thirsty still, but drink from a wider bowl.
Originally published in Third Wednesday
©2022 Joanne Durham
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