1969: a remnant

warm hills steer us to
lunch in the apple orchard -
friends tasting autumn

Not Now, I'm Busy

Child Free

                My being a poet isn’t ambition.
                It’s my way of being alone.
                        -Fernando Pessoa


My life was not
“changed forever”
by the birth of a child.

I liked my life
just the way it was-
interludes of adventure
surrounded by long
spaces of silence.

I am child free.

Every time a woman
is described as “childless”
a collective cry
goes out.

We are not homeless.
We are not careless.
We are not less.

We are more.
Woman more.
Child free.

Free to experience ourselves
fully, to hear silence deeply,
to be alone without excuse.

I have never wanted children.

This is not an apology.

This is neither decision nor choice.
This was something given and always known
like the color of one’s eyes
or an ear for language.

This is why I wake listening.
I wake early.  It is quiet.
It stays that way all day.




                       
                                           June 22, 2011