(Anonymous Photo)
THE PLEASURES OF ORDINARY LIFE
—Judith Viorst
I've had my share of necessary losses,
Of dreams I know no longer can come true.
I'm done now with the whys and the becauses.
It's time to make things good, not just make do.
It's time to stop complaining and pursue
The pleasures of an ordinary life.
I used to rail against my compromises.
I yearned for the wild music, the swift race.
But happiness arrived in new disguises:
Sun lighting a child's hair. A friend's embrace.
Slow dancing in a safe and quiet place.
The pleasures of an ordinary life.
I'll have no trumpets, triumphs, trails of glory.
It seems the woman I've turned out to be
Is not the heroine of some grand story.
But I have learned to find the poetry
In what my hands can touch, my eyes can see.
The pleasures of an ordinary life.
Young fantasies of magic and of mystery
Are over. But they really can't compete
With all we've built together: A long history.
Connections that help render us complete.
Ties that hold and heal us. And the sweet,
Sweet pleasures of an ordinary life.
_____________________
—Medusa, reminding you that today, Nancy Aidé González and Lara Gularte will be reading at Love Birds Coffee & Tea Co. in Placerville (1-3pm), and Jennifer O’Neill Pickering will be at Lincoln Library in Lincoln, 3pm. Then at 5pm, Joshua McKinney will speak about his life and poetry at the Naked Lounge Coffee House (1111 H St., Sacramento) in a “Coffee and Poets” series interview by guest host Frank Dixon Graham. Scroll down to the blue column (under the green column at the right) for info about these and other upcoming poetry events in our area—and note that more may be added at the last minute.