The Day I Turned 77 – Aug. 24
(listen to the poem, read by Diane R. Wiener)
When morning sun opened my eyes
I wrapped my feelings around me
77 is such an odd number
Will my mind outlast my years
Is the clarity of my thoughts
merely acting out of pretense?
When I turned 77
I planned the day for myself
wrote new poetry
Walked in beloved gardens
Listened to amazing music
remembered the comfort
of my family and friends
Day became evening
I dressed in black and green
Too expensive earrings
A gold choker from my mother
No make-up; my face would have to do.
The night blossomed
with piano and violin
A poet’s tribute to her mother
gentle harmony caressed the air
Love and reassurance blending together
I had turned 77
I laughed at the folly of my fears
welcomed the start of another year
searched for old promises,
made new dreams
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The Water Women
(listen to the poem, read by Diane R. Wiener)
Beside the pool the other day
a woman was doing exercises
swinging legs, bending her torso,
swaying her arms, her body lithe,
supple, thin. Her face showed
she was not young but not very old.
Admirable perhaps but the water women reign on Tuesday mornings.
We are several elder women looking
for each other every week….
Small talk, big talk – we know bits
and pieces of each other’s lives.
Who will be first to enter the pool
before the music starts at 9:00?
We are the water women
with colored towels, one-piece bathing suits,
water gloves and water weights; hair that
shines silver droplets; our bodies move
determined in the pool of water around us.
There is no competition.
We walk to stretch. Then – tapping ankles,
Legs rock back and forth; jump side to side; hands under thighs, move to face the wall, the lifeguard, back to
our places. Weights under arms, we ride a pretend bicycle into the deep
and back to shallow again.
Leap frog; rocking horse; jumping jacks.
We circle around ourselves. A final stretch.
Arms reach up; fingers bend mimicking raindrops;
wave at your neighbor.
The water women –
proud of our size; our appearance.
our own ability to perform. We do the best
we can, knowing in our hearts we all are beautiful.
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I Am the Girl
(listen to the poem, read by Diane R. Wiener)
I am the girl who walks funny and whose speech is
sometimes hard to understand. I am the girl who people
move out of the way for.
I eat at fancy restaurants and order foods I never heard of.
I did not have sex as a teenager, but I went to my Senior Prom.
I used to sit in the high back of buses because the view was better.
I am the girl who asks strangers for help getting onto a train, going down
steps or taking pictures with my iPhone.
I do not know what to say when I am called “an inspiration.”
I am the girl who gave birth to a daughter.
I cannot tie my grandchildren’s shoes or button their clothes.
My son-in-law tells me I am fine even when I’m not.
I have a husband who does everything for me.
I do not appreciate anything.
I am the girl who broke her nose on the Billy Goat Trail,
her teeth on a gravel road.
I use a walker-rollator but I can still climb the stairs in my house.
Friends slow down for me, but I am the one who gets impatient.
I like long conversations having nothing to do
with politics or disability, or the weather. I enjoy
more music and poetry and dancing in the rain.
I am the girl who longs for a well-coordinated body, for
adults to stop assuming, for children to stop staring.
I am the girl…..
Read more poetry by Laureen Summers in the special tribute to Kathi Wolfe in this issue of Wordgathering.
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About the Author
As a 77-year-old female with cerebral palsy, Laureen Summers has been writing poetry since her college days in the 1960s. Her chapbook, Contender of Chaos, was published in 2020 by Finishing Line Press. Laureen enjoys writing about coping with a visible disability combined with challenges, her love of nature, and relationships of all kinds. Active in disability advocacy for many years, Laureen is Project Director of the Entry Point! Program at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, facilitating connections between undergraduate and graduate students with disabilities and company partners for consideration of placement in STEM summer internships. Laureen has a wonderful husband of 48 years, a terrific daughter, and two precocious grandchildren.