LiLi Free on Seven Decades

Sometimes loss is a gift, emptiness
fulfilling. I thought I was leaving myself
behind. What did I find but a new
life in an old body that bears little
resemblance to its past.
Why stand on the side of the gravel
road as you point and say,
There used to be an old tree there,
but the county cut it down,
when you can plant a new one,
could sell your own walnut trunk
or give the seed away.
I’d be as happy to never see
my mother’s favorite frying pan
as I’d feel to cook out of it again,
would rather think about how people once were
than consider their current travails,
similar to my own, based in what
cannot be controlled, only responded to.
I want to move forward without
this heavy pack that carries everything
I ever felt or dreamed, my thoughts released
into the air to become the stars I watch at
night now there’s no distractions.

Sandra Kolankiewicz’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Fortnightly Review, Galway Review, The Healing Muse, New World Writing and Appalachian Review. Sandra is the author of Turning Inside Out, The Way You Will Go and Lost in Transition.