It’s National Poetry month. Enjoy our poets.

Ladies
 
They have soul
Some in control
Love like there is no tomorrow
Await another day to show you just how much they care
Some come first
While others wait with patience abounding
They are women with little girl hopes and dreams
I am someone's Lady
Ladies I hope all joy and happier moments surround you
We have all had to find a different way to build a mountain
 
~Madlyn Epstein Steinhart, author of Put Your Boots on and Dance in the Rain
 
 *****
  
JUST LAUGH AT IT ALL
 
I looked into my bathroom mirror and saw a surprising sight,
Who was that woman in natural light?
Could that be me that caused such an awful fright?
Why.... yes..... it was!!!!
 
I think I will need a forklift, as a facelift won't do,
As I studied the lines that were once so few.
What nature has wrought, so slowly too,
Has turned the picture into an entirely new view.
That I really had not noticed before.
 
This one time Playboy Bunny centerfold,
Now has flabby thighs that support hose has to hold,
in place.
What happened to that once lovely, smooth face?
Today there is hardly a trace,
Of what used to be.
 
Right now just getting out of bed is a treat.
Receiving phone calls and something to eat,
Is the highlight of my day.
 
Although I can never be the former,
Spring is almost around the corner,
I can certainly look forward to warmer weather,
And enjoy life with my friends, altogether,
To remember:
That life is more than how you look,
Just think of all the adventures it took,
To get here in the first place.
 
There is nothing wrong with my memories!
 
~Carol Ostrow, author of Poems from My Pandemic Pen

***** 
 
February 14, 2021
 
The Question
 
An online author
Asks the question
What needs to be said?
Words form slowly
Words not previously spoken
Nor considered
Not even thought
I don’t want to be alone
  
February 22, 2021
 
The Universe
 
Thoughts expressed
Words spoken
Thrown out there
Boomeranged back to me
The universe heard
And responded
 
~ Stephanie Sloane, author of Dear Me: Poems of Loss, Grief, and Hope in New York’s Darkest Days

***** 
March 25, 2021
 
So, it’s finally my turn
to get the vaccine.
I waited while so many around me
got a dose of freedom,
frustrated but thankful
that I did not qualify with a comorbidity
or a limited projected lifespan ahead.
The best vaccine is the first one you can get.
I heard that on the 5:00 news.
I’m getting Pfizer, a classic original.
 
Saturday is the first night of Passover,
a rite of spring and renewal.
I remember last Passover,
so early on in lockdown,
masks were newly mandated
and it was the first and last day
I put on a dress in the last year,
to attend my family’s novel Zoom grid Seder.
This year some kin can travel to Rochester,
reunite and gather together
around my mother-in-law Linda’s
oval oak table draped in lace
with a covered stack of matzah,
a bowl of crushed apple charoset
supporting a polished silver spoon,
and deep purple Manischewitz wine,
all symbolizing enslavement.
They are the older and essential workers
who are thankfully fully protected
from their early shots.
We cannot join until I am injected
with the magic that will keep me from
getting and spreading Covid.
 
I bought our matzah,
and the gluten free matzah for Lexie,
and then over 50 opened up
and I got my vaccine appointment
for Saturday
at the Javits Center
at 6:30 pm,
smack in the middle of the Seder.
The National Guard will guide me through
the glass complex on the Hudson River.
We will reschedule the festivity
of the miracle of the enslaved Israelites escaping bondage
by walking through imposing walls of water
in the Red Sea.
Elijah will wait outside our door this year,
until I get home
with a Band-Aid on my arm
and my paper souvenir vaccine card.
I will celebrate the miracle of modern science
By rolling up my sleeve
In a convention center.
 
Hallelujah!
 
~ Nicole Freezer Rubens, author of The Long Pause and the Short Breath…Poems & Photos & Reflections on New York City’s Pandemic