Mid-life Crisis
What am I doing with a mid-life crisis?
This morning I was seventeen.
I have barely begun the beguine and it's
Good night ladies
Already.
While I've been wondering who to be
When I grow up someday,
My acne has vanished away and it's
Sagging kneecaps
Already.
Why do I seem to remember Pearl Harbor?
Surely I must be too young.
When the boys I once clung to
Start losing their hair?
Why can't I take barefoot walks in the park
Without giving my kidneys a chill?
There's poetry left in me still and it
Doesn't seem fair.
While I was thinking I was just a girl,
My future turned into my past.
The time for wild kisses goes fast and it's
Time for Sanka.
Already?
Judith Viorst, How Did I Get To Be 40 & Other Atrocities, Siimon and Schuster, 1976.
When I was 40 I looked on a map and picked out a place to escape to...White River Junction,VT. if I recall. My plans didn't extend much beyond that...I didn't divorce my husband, quit my job, abandon my children, but somehow it was important to feel I had a destination, if I needed to get away. My forties were good for me, but there were upheavals, revelations and atrocities too...that's all I'll say for now.
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