[stylist] This morning I awoke...

Sun Mar 23 17:07:44 UTC 2014

Lynda,
Thanks so much. That was a wonderful prompt and gathered many interesting
responses.
I have noted your many accomplishments over the months which I am slowly
catching up on.
Jackie

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Lynda Lambert
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2014 5:17 AM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] This morning I awoke...

Hi Jackie! So wonderful to see you back here and read your work again! I 
just loved this poem - Lynda
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jackie Williams" <jackieleepoet at cox.net>
To: <stylist at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2014 8:28 PM
Subject: [stylist] This morning I awoke...

> It seems I cannot make an attachment in order to keep the format. So I 
> will
> cut and paste, the devil take the hindmost.
> Jackie
> Your
> prompt.
>
> This morning I awoke to find-
> deluge of e-mails from the blind.
> A month ago, I promised to
> come back again and thus renew
> the inspiration from this list.
> Well, anyway, you get the gist.
>
> I have a morning to devote
> to answering, and sugar-coat
> responses to what came as shock
> that none of you have writer's block!
> I'm old and white, close to decay,
> but listen up , I'll have my say.
>
> Three hundred! Please, a strategy.
> I'll answer all with poetry.
> You wonder, should you say impaired
> in case the "cons" leave you ensnared?
> While I agree with Lynda here-
> "Blind" dating is another sphere.
>
> My Poem. Don't take this too literally, but usually there are a few true
> things in my poetry. I lie a lot and like to have fun, and challenge the
> more accepted ideas. But if you go the speed dating route, you do not have
> to deceive by omission. I have not, but would have liked to.
> Jackie
>
> The Four-minute Speed-dating "Me Too" Man
>
> I contacted the organization with trepidation.
> In my early eighties, I still liked older men.
> I knew the pitfalls after falling in most of them.
> I also knew women made their choice of partners
> within the first 30 seconds and might choose
> a serial killer based on his pheromones.
>
> I studied the statistics before this revolving event.
> I would sit, and every four minutes, a new man
> would appear. I knew, also, men were more
> selective if they did not have to move. Besides,
> I was nearly blind and hard-of-hearing. I might not
> be able to get up and find the next man's table.
>
> Let's see-10% relate to movies, 17% to travel.
> Most relate to sports. Forget them. Religion, smoking,
> previous marriages do not hold sway as against
> that first four-second attraction. Now I am smart.
> I can ignore my subconscious that goes for con men.
> The bell, the bell! Here comes a short, slightly stooped man.
>
> I'm no dummy. I had prepared my quirky, unusual
> questions. In a rush I blurted, "I am a Democrat,
> a flaming liberal, and I love Obama."
> He took so long to answer that I blurted again,
> "I don't smoke, I have been married only once. He died."
> Another silence, a groan. The bell rang.
> I have no romantic spark for this strange man.
>
> There were not many in the seventy to ninety age group.
> Next a man strode over, leaned down, kissed my hand.
> He sat, proclaimed, "I am a conservative, a Republican,
> I love Rush Limbaugh. We must make Obama fail."
> I did not know what to say for fully two minutes. He followed,
> " I smoke, drink now and then, have been married three times."
> Saved by the bell. I am not asking questions. Get with it, girl.
>
> The next man slipped quietly into the chair, said, "God Bless You."
> I answered, "Why should he, Sir? I am a skeptic." We sat there
> awkwardly for fully three minutes without making a sound.
> Finally, here he came. The last man in this revolving group.
> He bumped the chair, finally sat, and reached for my hand.
> The touch, the sound of his deep voice turned loose a spark.
>
> Gently he asked, "Will you speak clearly. I am hard-of-hearing."
> In rapt adoration, I said, "I think it would be wonderful to stand
> on The Great Wall of China with you." "Me too," he replied.
> "I have always wanted to climb to Machu Pichu on The Old Incan Trail."
> "Me too," he said, moving to sit beside me-against the rules.
> We had trouble untangling our arms when the bell rang.
>
> I struggled to get my name on his list. Now I had to wait.
> Finally, after two days, I got his call-
> felt a thrill I had not known since I was seventy-eight.
> The grandson of his third marriage took us to IMAX
> to walk The Great Wall of China, to climb The Old Incan Trail.
> We sit side-by-side on our double chaise lounge in front of a 60-inch
> television while We drink Manhattans straight up with ice on the side.
>
> We first watch Fox news for him. I slowly run my fingertips
> up and down his inner arm. As he turns to MSNBC for me,
> he kisses the sweet spot on my neck, then CNN to cool us down.
> Sundays, he watches a bit of football, listens to a bible tape.
> I struggle with a poem or make blueberry pancakes.
>
> As we melt into each other's lives,
> I say to him, "I have found the most loving friendship
> I have ever known." He says, "Me too."
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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