50-Something Philosophy

"Woman Smoking a Cigar"
by Patricia Fragola,
a 59-year-old artist in Delray.
http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/patricia-fragola.html

Age-defying make-up clutters
bathroom counter doing its
impression of exploded pharmacy.
When I check the mail, a glossy
magazine from Double-A-RP and
updates from retirement plan.
Invisible to men of certain ages,
perhaps pitied by the pretty skinny
women who think their stomachs
will be flat forever. Comical how
over-fifties drift into these dismal
categories, sad when we slip
willingly into the rigid mold of
feeling old, believing that our best
is far behind. I've seen the Himalayas
and Three Sisters, smoked cigars
and heard sitars, made love more
times than twenty-somethings
could imagine, sung a hundred songs,
nailed shingles, shoveled shit and
birthed breech goats while grandkids
watched. I've heard applause. Loved,
beloved, do not intend to ever end
the journey I began so long ago,
at least not prematurely. Grow old
before my eyes if that's your pleasure,
I don't judge you. Neither will I join
you at the table sipping pity
through a straw when the band is
playing and my feet must dance.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2013