Taking Turns
I pass a woman on the beach.
We both wear graying hair,
feel sand between our toes,
hear surf, and see blue sky.
I came with a smile.
She came to get one.
No. I'm wrong.
She sits on a boulder
by a cairn of stacked rocks.
Hands over her heart,
she stares out to sea.
Today's my turn to hold the joy,
hers the sorrow.
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Disclaimer
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2017 by Jeanie Greensfelder, "Taking Turns ," from I Got What I Came For, (Penciled In, 2017). Poem reprinted by permission of Jeanie Greensfelder and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.