Nina Soifer
One of 200 Species Found in Central Park
If I become an older, crankier woman, bring me
a jonquil, warm gloves, a cup of expensive sherry.
Don't wait for me anymore. I'll prefer to sit alone,
listen to the drummers drum, watch the children flutter.
But if I am still young enough, wrap me in organza,
balance me on a limb above a stream in the Ramble
where I will deftly swing. Let me stay until rainfall
when the drummers disappear, the fathers whistle.
If I choose to hover above the tree line and nothing
gets in my way, reach for me. Maybe then it will be time
to reconsider where I've been. Has the magnolia warbler
found her caller? Has the night heron tethered
the wind? Like that child pulling a thousand pebbles
out of one pocket, I have saved everything until now.
Bio
Nina Soifer's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Literary Review, Alimentum The Literature of Food, Literary Mama, Chickenpinata, Thema, and Sheila Bender's Writing It Real, among others. Nina is a freelance food writer who lives with her family near the shore in South Jersey.