On Reading that I am ‘Elderly’
On Reading that I am ‘Elderly’
Original Text
Marriott, Anne. Letters From Some Islands. Oakville, ON L6L5N9: Mosaic Press, 1252 Spears Road, Units 1-2, 1985: 38. URL: www.mosaic-press.com
1As if the word
2has some dragging magic
3she appears
4that woman who bent
5so carefully her black laced feet
6to fit the curve
7of the beachside walk
8(Victoria: a long moist spring
9or was it autumn?)
10I see on her head again
11the good felt hat
12with its pleated ribbon
13see the black brushed coat
14and the fur with still eyes and snout
15her long-dead pet.
16She was struck by a car
17(I think)
18the Times reported
19…elderly resident.
20Not me, of course!
21Yet now I wonder:
22did she
23could she too
24as she walked so slowly
25have been racing
26inside herself
27with love with fire
28that jumped from tree to tree
29fiercer and faster because the wood was dry
30crying look
31over the prim beast’s head
32not at the calendar look
33see me?
RPO poem Editors
Ian Lancashire, assisted by Ana Berdinskikh
RPO Edition
2009
Form
Special Copyright
"On Reading that I am ‘Elderly’" © copyright Mosaic Press, 1252 Spears Road, Units 1-2, Oakville, ON L6L5N9. Permission to republish in RPO is acknowledged with gratitude. URL: <a href="http://www.mosaic-press.com">www.mosaic-press.com</a>