A Poem for Kathy
When we meet it is not by design,
nor is it by accident. The question
is by what third factor do we meet?
This is puzzling, and it has stumped
minds more supple and clever
than ours. In fact, we have become
celebrities of sorts among those
agents of society who endeavor
to make sense of modern life.
They have that lean and hungry look,
have no sense of style or fashion,
rarely display any sign of inner
pleasure other than utter contempt
for people -like us – who trouble them
by raising conundrums. Meanwhile, we
continue to meet, cross paths, find
ourselves in the same place
without design or accident. Life can be
that neatly messy. Or so the agents say.
We talk about other things, laugh a lot,
and our smiles abound. It’s a simple life.
First Fantasy
But you might turn this situation
to your advantage career-wise.
It will involve Space Travel, Einstein’s
calculations, zero-gravity, artificial-
gravity, mental-gravity… and a whole
new wardrobe. Because you will become
an astronaut! The training will be
a spring breeze, your assignment will
arrive before the seasons change. You will
follow traces of cosmic hope embodied
in a faster-than-light-speed space ship
that knows exactly where you should be,
namely, a planet in orbit around the star,
Proxima Centauri. It has taken six years
to reach this teeming colony. You arrive
at this Einstein-world younger than you
were when you departed earth in 20xx.
You had already added some stylish
decorations to the dreary astronaut
jump suit. Now you add panache to routine
attire and decorate dull chambers with
glittering things. Both male and female
astronauts are astonished, they applaud
each morning your arrival with new ideas.
One of the agents, in a state of elation
that did not stem from a space walk,
gushed, Gosh, we’re beautiful up here!
Second Fantasy
OK, you hesitate to become an astronaut
even in make believe, so stay on earth
and find your adventure as a fashion
consultant for a Big Business run by
indispensable men, with big salaries
and even bigger egos. The Big Boss
greets you on your first day, Well,
Kathy, we expect great things from you.
Your references – and on he goes,
and you notice an oddity no one mentions:
his left arm is stretched straight up.
It is holding a seven-foot pole which
supports the tottering GLASS CEILING.
All of the male employees are so encumbered,
because they crave the prestige of working
under a GLASS CEILING. One of the younger
male managers tells you, We don’t need
our left hands, because we do genius work
with only our right hand. Even as he spoke,
he was dancing to balance his pole…
But on a day, not too soon and and not too late,
the wobbly GLASS CEILING collapsed. You and your
sisters watched it fall and shatter into glittering
shards. Then women emerged from everywhere and
took charge of the genius business without any fuss.
The disgraced male employees sued the federal government
for jobs. But some stayed behind, sifting
through the debris, trying to piece together
a mosaic of privilege out of broken glass.
Their hands were horribly lacerated, and
their trophy wives were filing for divorce,
some even applying for their estranged husbands’jobs.
Second Reality
So be the mistress of your life, choose
in your own time the existence which
best matches your Inner Self. Consider
things that matter. The element of goodness
will take care of itself, arriving as you
arrive, prospering as you prosper.
The element of truth you can leave to God:
He knows best what is best, for you, for them,
for all of us. That means beauty remains:
make beauty your goal, increase its volume
and shapes in our lives, make our lives
shine with a daily beauty, start with things
of simple elegance: a pair of earrings
with delicate tear-drop hangings poised
to fall; a maroon scarf that splashes color
on a gray sweater; a peach blouse that
echoes the color of early twilight.
Of all the wonders of life, beauty is
the most obvious but also the most elusive.
It is a blessed state of being, because
it brings forth only love, and it speaks
only in kindness, as if happiness were
within our grasp each and every day.
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