SAYING WHAT I MEAN

“Perhaps one can at last in middle age, if not sooner, be completely oneself. And what a liberation that would be!” Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Gift From the Sea


Gloria Steinem once said, “Women may be the one group that grows more radical with age.” and Lynne Zielinski tells us in Chocolate for a Woman’s Spirit that “...Like autumn fruit, I’ve mellowed and thrown off inhibition to say what I mean...” So has my sister, Marilyn Houston, who wrote this poem:

Cookie Cutters

Aaaah, the scene opens . . . .
whether you like it or not
rain punctuates puddles marking cadence
for a spotty spring ballet of fools
it’s a goose-step two-step,
so very tiring especially if you do it right

I’m a sun-dancer with a tie-dye mind
running from clones in Cadillacs
drones in cathedrals, perpetually
harping we’ve fallen from grace
they’re expecting the worst
and it never disappoints . . . .
so many blank faces, so little time
how can anyone deny God’s sense of humor
while under the sublime influence of Heaven
or is it advertising?

I declare war on snobbish university poets
their self-proclaimed perfectionism incensed
that we don’t follow their rules,
their pentameters, particulars and perpendiculars
ha, you can’t stop me now with your parameters,
there’s a lot more where that came from
and I’m not about to do it your way
even if your power trip
IS bigger than I am

‘cause I gotta voice

Listening to your inner voice makes it possible to start living more authentically---to speak with a true voice and from your own system of values and beliefs. Women at any age, but especially as they grow older, get to go beyond the superficial injunctions of the culture---prentending to be pleasant or acting invisible. As we age it is even more important to assert our full power in relationships and work. It’s a time when we can be more direct and more outspoken.

As writer Maxine Myers once said, “I no longer consider silence a virtue. Speaking up is OK, and speaking up louder is even better in some cases.” How do you feel about this? You gotta voice!!!