It’s my 67^th birthday today, a good day to review the year in creation. What did I make this year? Eleven blog posts (this is the twelfth); a few stories, poems, and essays; felt birds for family members and felt Christmas decorations; three aprons (one for Nancy, one for Meytal, one for me); a baby quilt and matching pillow for the great grandson of my friend, Lillian; embroidered pillows for my niece; a patchwork pillow for my friend Janis; little zippered bags for everyone; “One Thousand Joys,” a wall hanging for our stairwell; a lunch bag for me; some drawings and comics; a sling bag for Nancy; some collages (thank you Kathryn for the inspiration); and cakes and more cakes for friends and family.  

Living a creative life feels as important as ever.

Show and Tell

In old age,
let us
return to kindergarten
rituals.

Show something,
then tell about it
during circle time
with our friends.

I went to collage club
at the library
Women of all ages were
cutting up old magazines. 
Glue sticks and colourful scissors 
lay across white tables like
sacred instruments.

As we cut, some of us 
spoke; others
remained silent. 

I made a collage
about the pieces of me. 

Cool and aloof,
wise owl
serious as I sew buttons.
Sometimes a poor silly worm,
my blind eyes sensing light.

In past lives I was
fertility goddess, 
discus thrower
seamstress 
parasitic crustacean.

Inside of me, Batman blocks a monster:
“No, you won’t hurt anyone else.”

Inside of me, a bitch brandishes her guns:
“Now, I’m really getting aggravated,” she says, her voice rising on the smoke.
If women let loose their anger, the world would burn.

One spring day in Toronto, 
forty years ago, 
I rode the Queen West streetcar to work.
As we clattered past the mental 
institution, number 999,
a statuesque woman, her
proud head shorn,
strode the sidewalk, naked.
Her brown thighs shimmered in 
the light, her high breasts bounced lightly,
nipples hardened in the coolness
of that morning. 
Everyone around me was, 
for a moment, silent, awed
by this strange beauty.

Crustacean, crone, bird,
woman, warrior, gatherer of words, 
seamstress of memories
Can you see all the pieces of me?

Here’s to another year of creation.