RUTH Z. DEMING

THE INNISFREE POETRY JOURNAL

Ruth Z. Deming

THE MEN WHO LOVE ME

The men who love me,
Codgers mostly, call my name
As I walk by.
Their voices rising in jubilation
as I pass by.
I'm young enough still and
I've got good legs. My fresh mowed
Grass shows I work hard like they do.

There is Bill's house, alive with light and movement,
Though he's not there. We remember poor Bill,
Cocoon'd in a nursing home
No use to anyone after five-hour surgery to
Scoop out a tumor from his brain,
Big as a grapefruit they say,
Can that be true, Bill?

His house resounds with life,
A ceiling fan atwhirl as Bill's grown boy
throws off his
shirt & comes barechested to the window,
While Bill's car, like a faithful Schnauser,
Stands sentry in the drive
awaiting word.

Ruth Z. Deming
Ruth Z. Deming, MGPGP, is a psychotherapist and the executive director of New Directions Support Group, Inc., (www.NewDirectionsSupport.org) for people with depression and bipolar disorder and for their families out of suburban Philadelphia. Born in 1945, the divorced mother of two has worked as a secretary in San Francisco; a habadasher in Manhattan; a freelance writer for all the Philadelphia newspapers, including the Inquirer; and has won awards for both writing and mental health advocacy. Literary awards include 2005 Finalist for Creative NonFiction from the Pew Fellowship for the Arts and the 1998 Leeway Foundation Winner of Best Creative NonFiction with a prize of $5,000. Her latest award was for her poem "Red Tongue," from the 2006 Montgomery County (PA) Community College Annual Writers' Contest. She lives in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, where she enjoys gardening and maintaining a blog on the above website.

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Last Updated: Sep 16th, 2007 - 08:34:32