Saturday, March 21, 2020

Saturday, March 21, 2020: National Women's Poetry Month: Viola Weinberg Spencer's poem "For Better or Worse"

For Better or Worse
Could I not love you, want you again
Across these many ragged miles?
Is there something on the road?
Be it rut, choke or shabby ditch?

What keeps you from these arms
I know I was never the thin one
The young one, the shy one
With head bobbing like an apple

But look, I have loved you through
Chemo, through all the things they
Did to me? Do you not want me
As I sit here, bathed and oiled

But not precisely the same
Nor will I ever be? Do you not
Want to find another way that
Would make us whole again?

Is there not a way?
Won’t you tell me, my love?
Won’t you caress my white head
And nuzzle my hairless parts

Until our hearts beat like bongos
Until our hearts twist together
Like hands clasping, grasping
For the juicy meat of better or worse

© 2020 Viola Weinberg Spencer






Bio: Viola Weinberg is a poet and writer, and a survivor (thus far) of Stage Four Renal Cell Cancer, a rare cancer without a cure). She was the first Poet Laureate of the sprawling capitol city of Sacramento, California, where she "rode circuit" as a literary ambassador to schools, libraries, state office buildings and gatherings in parks and cafes. In her earlier writing life, Viola was a radio reporter with a seat in the Capitol Press Corps. 
Widely published with ten books of poetry, she is also the founder of the Tough Old Broads, a group of four close friends who share 200 collective years of writing. The TOBs produced a collection of their works published by Cold River Press called Tough Enough.

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