in this desert, youth is a mirage.
mortals are doomed, and it is said women die twice.
even those of us who shrank the male gaze to relieved indifference
fall victim to our sisters, swapping shame stories around the tribal bonfire.
i am no paragon, but i manage the stumble-out, loving the skin i can still dance in.
my advice: ditch the donner party for the starry night, the prairie for old-growth forest,
for the wise silence that holds the lesson you came all this way to learn.
I watched an interview with the Danish writer Suzanne Brøgger and this quote really spoke to me, as I think it speaks to all writers over fifty:
‘I experience getting old as encompassing all ages — childhood, youth, adulthood, maturity, and old age — at the same time.’
I have chills, just like Pamela. So so good.