from "Contradictions: Tracking Poems"

Adrienne Rich



6.



Dear Adrienne:

                      I'm calling you up tonight

as I might call up a friend      as I might call up a ghost

to ask you what you intend to do

with the rest of your life. Sometimes you act

as if you have all the time there is. 

I worry about you when I see this.

The prime of life, old age

aren't what they used to be;

making a good death isn't either,

now you can walk around the corner of a wall

and see a light

that has already blown your past away.

Somewhere in Boston        beautiful literature

is being read around the clock

by writers      to signify

their dislike of this.

I hope you've got something in mind.

I hope you have some idea

about the rest of your life.

                               In sisterhood,

                                                 Adrienne