by Maxine Kumin
... moreLooking Back in My Eighty-First Year
by Maxine Kumin
How did we get to be old ladies--
my grandmother's job--when we
were the long-leggèd girls?
--Hilma Wolitzer
I nstead of marrying the day after graduation,
in spite of freezing on my father's arm as
here comes the bride struck up,
saying, I'm not sure I want to do this,
I should have taken that fellowship
to the University of Grenoble to examine
the original manuscript
of Stendhal's unfinished Lucien Leuwen ,
I, who had never been west of the Mississippi,
s hould have crossed the ocean
in third class on the Cunard White Star,
the war just over, the Second World War
when Kilroy was here, that innocent graffito,
two eyes and a nose draped over
a fence line. How could I go?
Passion had locked us together.
Sixty years my lover,
he says he would have waited.
He says he would have sat
w here the steamship docked
till the last of the pursers
decamped, and I rushed back
l ittering the runway with carbon paper...
Why didn't I go? It was fated.
Marriage dizzied us. Hand over hand,
flesh against flesh for the final haul,
we tugged our lifeline through limestone and sand,
lover and long-leggèd girl.
Bershanned WilsonThere is always something new in the publishing world of literature! I love it!
February 18, 2013
Bershanned WilsonWorking on old material, before publication can en-light you, on new ideas and take you to brighter places with the material you have written...It is the best way for a writer to feel connected with their creation.
February 18, 2013
Bershanned WilsonA writer who writes well. Is a writer worth having a good audience.
February 1, 2013
Bershanned Wilson → H.L. Pauff: Thank you H.L Pauff for your friends request. I am happy to be connected. I view a bit of your page and followed the link to your website. It is very nice, but I more so enjoyed your short fiction " Concrete Love". Very visual and direct with the... moreThank you H.L Pauff for your friends request. I am happy to be connected. I view a bit of your page and followed the link to your website. It is very nice, but I more so enjoyed your short fiction " Concrete Love". Very visual and direct with the photo! I liked it very much!
Bershanned Wilson “It is raining and it’s pouring there’s nothing to do on this particular day, but sit and wait and be depressed.” Replied Frankie
“Why are you always so negative? You are you always so impulsive, things could be going well and you always... more “It is raining and it’s pouring there’s nothing to do on this particular day, but sit and wait and be depressed.” Replied Frankie
“Why are you always so negative? You are you always so impulsive, things could be going well and you always have something negative to say always it never fails.” Stated Annie
“capital I have dreams and I would really love to enjoy my life while I have it you honestly don’t understand what I’m saying it’s raining, it’s pouring, I feel lazy, and I want to sleep, I don’t like the weather I don’t like it when it’s raining at a link when it’s pouring and I frankly don’t care if it’s not sunny.”
Annie, looked at Frankie her thoughts could not imagine what makes someone feel so irritable about the weather. So maybe some things were true maybe there was a possibility that Frankie had moved swings when the weather change but it really gave him no reason to hate the weather after all it’s not the weather’s fault there is change in fact. It’s no one’s fault Frankie is just Frankie. Too, bad he had lived long enough to understand that life is more about filling. It’s not always about how you feel what you filled in which you can get sometimes it’s about appreciating with you appreciating life appreciating being here another day.
Annie cannot believe that such a fun friend full of wonders and dreams would be so depressing. I mean one day with him and charity feels like she wants to jump out of a window; ‘Who care if it were raining that day just as long as the path is clear’. As she took one more look at Frankie, there he was sitting there rolling in his chair like a nervous kid he couldn't bare to sit still for one moment. Too, bad the TV didn't work, there was no electricity and if there was, there will be no way in the world Frankie would pay her any attention. Since the TV was like another woman to his soul. After all they had been married for 62 years. He married her straight out of the Navy; she remembered that day, as every young lady meeting love for the first time. It was the day he was coming home and she was there with her mother and father, but not there for him; there for her brother a rare glimpse of her from a far, that day caught his eye. He was hooked on her enchanted beauty, for she was not fancy, but a drop dead beauty, Like nothing royalty, just simple plain beauty worth looking.
Oh Annie, she was beautiful. He knew it, but he also knew that he was a showstopper. Then again she wondered why she hadn't pushed him in the water when she had the chance. After all, he was a jerk towards her on the first day they meet. He actually looks old enough to be his age now, with a matching personality. She had a chance, why did she have to listen to her father and mother; what did they see in him that made them wanted their daughter to fight so hard for him? It’s no secret now, Annie was old that even still now she didn't have the wrinkles of a harsh old woman, but the smooth gentle touch of a lambs coat her wrinkles were even into her skin they blended well in fact. She made him look good there was no denying that he gained the princess along the way if you wanted to put it that way. A cheap princess.
It didn't really matter now, because Annie knew she loved him. She thought about it, the days of both laughter and discomfort a tear rolled off her face. He had never seen her cry before us just how good her life was in fact she had no reason to cry. she didn't know what work meant, in fact she did and came as she pleased, but maybe he was just old and tired after all, he could no longer cut the grass like he used of his back had given out so in a way the TV was his only friend. The only thing, which made him feel like portion of a man. Annie’s sobbing persistent. Frank turn looking at his wife shed a tear for the first time since, the day he asked her to marry him. Only these were tears of hurt. Being the man he was, he stop, turning his chair. He really didn't know what to say at first he really thought something was wrong, so he stood up barely able to stand from his rotating chair and he slid his feet over towards her, since walking took him far too long now “Annie, honey what’s wrong?, Is something wrong”
“Now.” She replied staring at the ground. Freaking knew something was up he knew she was never this way so he grabbed those cold hands which are two times smaller than his….Sure he was the size of a bear, but he was as harmless as a fly she looked up to them he was like a tall pillar still, she realize there is some strength left and she would never leave her husband after all she loved him for long time and she will always love them. The fights they had while they were younger may have been crazy to strangers, but to them it was just the way to overcome what they were going through. They never hurt one another physically, in fact all four of their children grew up one became a doctor, the other a lawyer, the other a businesswoman, and the last one just finishing her final year at Harvard College. They had worked and saved and sacrificed and now it seemed as though they were falling apart the storm slowly begin to pass in the thunder finally stop worrying they finally were able to see the light slowly peeking through on their front porch.
“Annie, you know I have always sacrificed for you, you know I have always given you everything I will give you my last, I will, just tell me what is it. Tell me, what is it you need?”
Andy thought deep what was it she wanted, what was it she needs, was she just old and changing, or was there something really missing? Annie looked at Frankie his eyes slowly begin to tear up, his weakness was seen her cry. She finally knew what it was that was lacking all these many years, despite being the housewife she was. She always wanted to know if he really needed her as much as she needed him?
Seeing those tears in his eyes, she grabbed his face so gently as tears began to pour from his eyes. It was one of those times, she honestly didn't know if she should cry or if she should look, should she hold him? Or will he begin to ague again?. Annie embraced him as though he were her own child. She looked at him pulling, his face away from her shoulders, she looked at him.
“Frankie, I love you and all I ever wanted to know is the truth. To know that you need me just much as I need you, I figured things would have changed over the years, but I realize they had they've gotten better I will not cry anymore Frankie. I know that I mean so much to you now than when you asked me to first marry you at the bowling area.”
Frankie looked at her suddenly, that face of tears streaming down quickly dried up like the Sahara desert knowing and believing in seeing the truth. She loved him just as much as he loved her. All of these years have passed by and here they were fighting over something that made no sense the ‘the weather?’ Frankie thought ‘the weather?’
It was no reason for him to fight his wife over it if there were a disagreement fact, or fiction. The bottom line is they lived all these many years together; sure some people stay together because after certain age who else can they go to?, but he truly loved her unlike some of his friends who have left their wives, while their children were barley walking and that strange little boy he who lived down the street from him, who somehow became a successful estate agent; he left his wife for 21-year-old, but Frankie, Frankie couldn't do that to Annie they were two of a kind, but different. They always answered each other’s questions, always loved each other, always supported each other, and at times annoyed the mess out of each other. As the rain begun to clear even more, Frankie, and Annie held each other. Their crying had stop, and they slowly watched their evening together turn into something modern.
Bershanned WilsonRain drops, fall suddenly.
Puddles ripple without an earthquake sound.
He stands, waiting patently.
Soaked in a trench,... moreRain drops, fall suddenly.
Puddles ripple without an earthquake sound.
He stands, waiting patently.
Soaked in a trench,
Looking like a tramp far at a distance.
Pasting side to side,
Still waiting for her.
An unforgettable touch;
His shoulders have come to know well.
A whisper in his ear, sweeter
Than her kiss.
The ‘hello’ by surprise needs no words
For its introduction, as he had pleasantly
Waited for her expecting her.
All this time, was suddenly not all this time.
For her skin was a glowing smooth , fresh surface,
Perfectly wearing tears of joy.
Soft hands supported his neck; rolling his curls above,
As he lean for that kiss.
Thunder roars, as a warning to escape, the
Lightening on his way.
Hands quickly and securely lock,
Intertwined, as their breath becomes the warmth
Of their dove like, souls on the short
Walk home.
With A Romantic Touch
