POETRY

BY

VICKI

WHEN WE BECOME INVISIBLE 

We shrink.

Our color fades.

Our skin loosens.

Our thoughts are the same.

Our ability to love is the same.

Our capacity to absorb new ideas is the same.

Our step has slowed.

We want to keep up.

We don’t want to be left behind.

We have a wealth of knowledge to pass on.

Our sense of humor is intact.

Our joie de vive is not broken.

LUNCH TIME 

My legs pulled up,

I huddle against the wall.

Students towering over me.

He walks toward me.

He pauses.

His immense frame

casts a shadow across my body.

My stomach churns.

Sweat beads on my forehead.

 ‘Don’t hurt me’.

He smiles

and keeps walking

DESPERATE HOUSEWIFE 

Moving to a desolate place

New house. Why am I not happy?

Far from family and friends.

Only neighbors talking about recipes, gardening, childcare.

A mute husband home from work.

Trapped,

No way out.

Escape.

Food or alcohol?

Explore.

Books.

BEACH 

Soft breeze

Smell of the surf

Fiddle crabs scurrying into the sand.

Setting sun

Best time of the day

Purple, orange, lavender sunset

Boats drifting with their rainbow of colored sails

BODY DYSMORPHIC 

Models in magazines

Models in movies

Models in commercials

Vibrant skin

Lustrous lips

Svelte bodies

Standing before the mirror

I cringe.

My skin is sallow

My lips are too thin

My hips are too big