Waltzing With Eggs
Jane Yolen They are tentative old friends, learning to waltz past their individual mournings. After a breakfast of sorrow his arm around her waist, not at all like his late wife's, Her hand on his shoulder, she remembers another, broader, softer. They have omelets and coffee. The dance feels a bit like waltzing on eggs: Part careful practice, part messy problems, part protein for a new life. Immacular Conception Her eyes dimming faster than the shots can help, she turns to her childhood, those memories still bright. She cannot read the words She has typed on the page, Or see the cat before tripping over its dark back. But she can recall the light of the prairie where her remarkable first years are captured in lucent prose, She who can no longer see her own reflection in the mirror, or the smile on her youngest grandchild’s face. How My father Won the War He came home a hero arm in a sling, told me he'd won the war singlehandedly, which made sense, as that one looked mangled from the buzz bombs. Every time a fly buzzed near me that soft summer, or a bee hummed to its hive, I winced, waiting for an explosion. Yet, once we were back in New York City he could throw any ball, fly a kite with either hand. It was as if we'd never waited three years down south for his return, never lived outside the realm of his casual lies. My mother was done with his stories by then, but I was still eager to believe them. It was the one thing I could do best in his eyes. Only years later did I truly know him, after mother' s cancer fierce in it energy, buzzing along the ley lines of her lungs, became the engine of her escape, and mine. |
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About the Author:
Jane Yolen's 370th book was published this year, including a new collection of adult poems, and a verse novel for Young Adults. She has had poetry in many literary journals, sf magazines, anthologies. Her most recent novel, MAPPING THE BONES, stars a young poet (and some of his poems.)
Jane Yolen's 370th book was published this year, including a new collection of adult poems, and a verse novel for Young Adults. She has had poetry in many literary journals, sf magazines, anthologies. Her most recent novel, MAPPING THE BONES, stars a young poet (and some of his poems.)