Note: I wrote this rhyme a couple years after my divorce, while raising my youngest daughter on my own. Since I had my youngest when I was 41, I was already “middle-aged” when I wrote this. I put in a laundry photo, since I have many, and because I refer to it in the middle of the poem, where I am placing the photo.
Midlife Musings of a Single Mom
(1994)
Movies for a quarter, dill pickles, and egg creams;
45 records spinning, hearing I’ll See You in My Dreams.
Bicycles at one speed, Fibber McGee & Molly;
10 inch Black & White TV, my non-talking Dolly.
French fries on the Boardwalk, Steel Pier feats of daring;
Swapping clothes and jewelry, a sisterly kind of sharing.
Pin clips in my stick-straight hair, Nair smeared above my lip;
Being cool in pegged pants and Bucks, a 50s kind of hip.
Hours on the telephone, kissing in the park;
Spin-the-bottle innocence, initials carved in bark.
Double feature movies, drive-ins with a date;
Mom’s laundry on the line, a key to fix my skate.
Woolen leggings, itching; galoshes all in black;
Hand-me-downs from relatives and Don’t step on the crack.
Building puzzles with my brother, Daddy fixing cars;
Summer in the Catskills, dark nights filled with stars.
Stumbling through my childhood, armed with fork and knife;
Suddenly I was grown..and someone else’s wife.
Giving birth to children, oh, the labor pains;
Watching them become adults, the joy is what remains.
Then giving birth to myself, after my divorce;
Labor pains twice as hard to chart a different course.
Mem’ries that I conjure and some that never fade;
Good with bad, they’re all mixed in, ’cause that’s how Life is made.
P.S. I am posting this on May 15th, which is the anniversary of my first marriage. Doing it today helps to replace that memory with the bigger picture of memories that are happier.
Love the poem and sure can relate to it. However, since everyone is a “critic”…it should be “Fibber McGee and Molly”. Fiber would refer to soluble or insoluble, don’t you know…;^)
Thanx 4 catching my typo. Will fix it now! ellensue
P.S. I also changed Magee to McGee, which I believe is the correct spelling but never saw it in writing. es
I think I fixed that. Thanx 4 your sharp eyes. es