Aging Gracefully - Poem: Lovely Are the Older Women

LANA TURNED HAS COLLAPSED
by Frank O'Hara

Lana Turner has collapsed!

I was trotting along and suddenly

it started raining and snowing

and you said it was hailing

but hailing hits you on the head

hard so it was really snowing and

raining and I was in such a hurry

to meet you but the traffic

was acting exactly like the sky

and suddenly I see a headline

LANA TURNER HAS COLLAPSED!

there is no snow in Hollywood

there is no rain in California

I have been to lots of parties

and acted perfectly disgraceful

but I never actually collapsed

oh Lana Turner we love you get up

***

My friend "Anna" is mildly traumatized by having just turned 70.

Here is a poem I've just written for her.

Lovely are the older women
lovely the lines etched in
their dew-dimpled faces
for all the heartache
they've suffered and
overcome

Heart attacks
Strokes
Cancers
Plantar fasciitis
Broken bones and
Empty hearts

Such is the fare
distributed to
women born women

Rise up and claim
your victory, Olympic

Rise up and claim
your coin purse of
virtues: Wisdom
Acceptance Tolerance

Do not count down your
days. Instead think of
all the breads you can
bake, the piano sonatas
you can play, the dangling
earrings you can make.

Jump jump jump into the
ocean of life. Feel the
frothy waves caressing
your body. The body
of the one unique you.
The one. Unique. You.