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    The Curve of Nature: Verse Written in and About Old Age
    The Curve of Nature: Verse Written in and About Old Age
    The Curve of Nature: Verse Written in and About Old Age
    Ebook112 pages43 minutes

    The Curve of Nature: Verse Written in and About Old Age

    By Helen S. McCloskey

    ()

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    About this ebook

    I am an auditor, an ambivalent observer
    of countless congregations
    repeating their verses.
    Numbed by doubt,
    I turned to audit simpler things.
    I watched two egrets
    lace the air
    into a curve of feathers.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateSep 24, 2013
    ISBN9781491822975
    The Curve of Nature: Verse Written in and About Old Age
    Author

    Helen S. McCloskey

    Helen S. McCloskey spent her childhood in St. Joseph, Michigan before marrying and relocating to Cambridge, Massachusetts. She studied voice and opera at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, working with Sarah Caldwell. Ms. McCloskey has written one previous book of poetry, “The Strain of Roots.” She lives between Bloomington, Indiana and Naples, Florida.

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      Book preview

      The Curve of Nature - Helen S. McCloskey

      © 2013 Helen S. McCloskey. All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

      Published by AuthorHouse 10/31/2013

      ISBN: 978-1-4918-2299-9 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4918-2298-2 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4918-2297-5 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2013917915

      Cover Artwork by Marni Sinclair

      Contents

      While Walking On Sanibel Island

      Love in the Time of Old Age

      A Note From Madrid

      One Definition

      Mapping A Terrain

      Analyses

      On The Other Hand

      A Matter Of Geography

      Out Of Work

      Don Juan At Shady Rest

      Unrequited Love

      The Skylight

      Recovery

      How Like A Rose

      Lunch

      An Old Bird

      Balance

      About Gems

      Estrangement

      Private Lives

      Joint Custody

      Finality

      A Season’s Close

      The Recurring Tense

      Once Upon A Time

      The Morning After The Night Before

      Hibernation

      Alas!

      On Wings Of Song

      Learning By Imitation

      On The Dark Side

      The View From My Belmont Window

      Classical Tragedy

      Pages That Are Missing

      My Mother’s Farewell To St. Joe

      The Power Of Remnants

      Making It Easy On The Family

      Only If The First Death Is Your Own

      Résumé

      After The Fact

      Parting

      Poor Butterfly

      After The End Of The Main Event

      Recalling 1969

      Annuals In Flight

      A Subliminal Call

      Mind Over Faith

      Membership

      Matriarchal Gallery

      Conversations With My Children

      Alienation

      Family Reunion

      A Mother’s Complaint

      Photographs

      Without Choice

      The Silence Maker

      To A Scholar Who Travels A Lot

      When To Reap?

      Calling Gramma

      My Glasses

      Telephone Terrorist

      In Search Of A Happy Ending

      A Few Stops Along The Way

      Around a Pool In Arizona

      With Dante At Squaw Peak

      An Exhibition of Picasso’s Stick Line Drawings At the Phoenix Museum

      Accountability

      Affluence Without Feathers

      One More Last Stand

      A Gardener

      A Farewell Party

      Returning To Home Base

      Transplant

      Under A Full Moon

      New Hampsire Camp

      Kitty’s Garden

      Missing A Garden

      Mrs. Gardner’s Garden

      One Investment Strategy

      Interiors

      Music

      Art In Trade

      Making A Patio

      A Return To My Cape House

      Rememberlng A Cape Cod Hurricane

      Capers In Mid-Winter

      A Day At The Cape

      New Hampshire From A Car Window

      A Condominium’s Lake

      Ducks And Women

      The Club

      A Florida Waiting Game

      Policy Is Everything

      Florida Rv Park

      Hurricane Alley

      About Poetry

      Trying To Make It Clear

      Poetry In The Witness Chair

      Oh, To Be A Cormorant!

      Across A Divide

      A Box Of Tools

      From A Kitchen Table

      The Crux Of The Matter

      Out Of The Workshops Into The Sun

      To Be A Poet

      Choices

      The Cultivation Of My Universe

      Attica

      Writing In Florida

      Enough Already!

      On And Off The Cape

      The Renaissance

      The Crab Knows

      Where Life Begins

      The Nature Of Destiny

      On Behalf Of Poetry (I, II, III, IV,)

      A Simile

      Chicago! Chicago!

      From Tall Buildings To Small Places

      Christmas In Chicago

      There, But For The Grace Of Chance, Go I

      Christmas Eve

      Closing In On My Return Ticket

      When Wings Finally Close

      A Little Boy Will Ask

      In Retirement

      Common In The Common

      A Gardener Lays Down Her Hoe

      Withdrawal

      Winter’s Watch

      Life According To Life

      Shady Rest

      A Right Denied

      It’s A Horse Race

      The Theater

      Not Everyone’s Beach Day

      The Loss Of An Old Friend

      Friendship In Old Age

      What’s Her Name

      One More Loss

      That Time Of Year

      Born Again

      An Easy Way Out

      No Futures Contract

      Historical Relevance

      Who Am I In All Of This?

      As A Moth Would Do

      Just The Way Things Are

      Ah! Were It But So

      The Great Power

      Facing Up

      The Comfort Of Darkness

      On The Edge Of Each Cliff

      Possibilities

      To Die By Choice

      Two Together Are Better Than One

      So—What Else Is New?

      Carnival

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