Given our name and our mission, we at Women’s Voices for Change feel little need to offer equal time to male poets, but every once in a while a deeper voice reminds us that change is indeed a shared human experience. Recently, our falconing friend, Mary Ellen Rooney, was the recipient of a poem written by a friend who’d taken a road trip and mused on the beauty of the later seasons of a woman’s life. She asked, “Would we ever consider . . .?”  We were happy to reply “Yes,” and we are equally happy to present this lovely tribute-to-our-readers to our readers. —Ed.

Photo Credit: Martin Cathrae, Flickr

In Praise of an Older Woman, by Gordon Gilbert

In her green youth

Spring was in her step

The fragrant scent of flowers bright

Enchanted and seduced all men

As her beauty blossomed

 —

Past spring’s green age of folly now

Before leaves fall

As fall leaves us

To winter’s stark bare limbs

And memories of younger seasons

Her fall foliage commands our admiration

Imperiously demands appreciation

Of a wiser, seasoned season

  —

As fall nips the air

And her green leaves

Oh, the colors wonderful

Of red and purple, orange and rust

That always lay beneath

And come to light

Exposed now

In her fall!

Gordon Gilbert has been a West Village resident in NYC since the mid-seventies—and yet he discovered the spoken-word scene only four years ago.  Since then, there has been an outpouring of poetry, short stories, monologues, and a play.  He currently hosts monthly celebrations of Beat Generation writers (male and female) at the Yippie Museum Café. Since November, he has staged five performances of “Monologues from the Old Folks’ Home,” with a cast of 17—dramatic productions he has written and is producing and directing. Gordon may be contacted at [email protected].