Sienna Elizabeth Raimonde

80 AND ALIVE

When I'm 80 I'll wear
Black leather pants
And scarlet-colored underwear

Instead of a cane
I'll carry a sai
Butterfly knife
Hiding, concealed
Where I can feel
The steel-plated handle

And no one will say
Your skirts too short
Lipstick too red
See-through blouse too sheer

Because
When I'm 80
The self-righteous sneers
Of my peers or elders...
Gnostic, Pharisee, or Sadducee...

They'll all be egregious
By my ardent, free spirit
Too frail to see
Yesterday's pit
Festering
In the gray distance

Who listens as
They endeavor to unravel
The uncontemplated
Onerous restraints
Of previous life
Metamorphosing into
Neurotic complaints
Sublimated
To the point
Of abject slavery

When I'm 80
I'll wave
Good-bye to the aging
State of mind
And say hello
To the youth
I could never
Find

Suzan E. Raimonde, has been writing poetry since she was a young girl. She was born and raised in Bufffalo, N.Y. and after obtaining degrees in theology and psychology, she realized that poetry was where her heart belonged. She has had many of her poems published regionally as well as in various other states.