One Grey Hair by Suzanne Paschall
Today I found one grey hair
You know.
Down there.
What to do? Sigh? Stare?
Hair dye? Chemicals?
I don't think so.
Shaving? It'll just grow back.
Plucking? Christ.
Another piece of evidence
along with the loosening
of posterior shape, the
shift of gravity.
Sometimes I dribble a little in my
pants when I sneeze, or laugh.
A small army of rogue hairs
invades my chin.
My heart flutters,
parts of me dry up.
Face crinkles, whether or not
I am smiling.
Shall I go on?
Shall I be overwhelmed by the
advances of Father Time,
surrender to these petty skirmishes?
I play racquet sports, to ward off the
looming ridge of belly fat.
I eat leafy, dark coloured vegetables
to stave off mobs of imagined cancers.
I am a woman at war
but it's a gentle one, a conflict shared.
I defer to the millions fighting their own,
more malignant, battles.
BIO: Suzanne has been a journalist in Kansas, advertising writer in New York, short fiction and magazine writer in Canada, and a songwriter. Her music has been performed and recorded by other artists, in film and television and on stage. These are her first published poems.
www.paschallarts.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/paschallampdahl
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R3670y4lw0
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