<HTML><HEAD></HEAD>
<BODY dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000">
<DIV
style='FONT-SIZE: small; TEXT-DECORATION: none; FONT-FAMILY: "Calibri"; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; COLOR: #000000; FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline'>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000">
<DIV>A friend sent me this.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0cm; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0cm"><SPAN><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 14pt"></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0cm; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0cm"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>A Simple Poem For Virginia Woolf</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0cm; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0cm"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>This started out as a simple poem<BR>for Virginia Woolf you know the
kind<BR>we women writers write these days<BR>in our own rooms<BR>on our own
time<BR>a salute a gesture of friendship<BR>a psychological debt<BR>paid
off<BR>I wanted it simple<BR>and perfect round<BR>hard as an<BR>egg I
thought<BR>only once I’d said egg<BR>I thought of the smell<BR>of bacon grease
and dirty frying-pans<BR>and whether there were enough for breakfast<BR>I
couldn’t help it<BR>I wanted the poem to be carefree and easy<BR>like children
playing in the snow<BR>I didn’t mean to mention<BR>the price of snowsuits
or<BR>how even on the most expensive ones<BR>the zippers always snag<BR>just
when you’re late for work<BR>and trying to get the children<BR>off to school on
time<BR>a straightforward poem<BR>for Virginia Woolf that’s all<BR>I wanted
really<BR>not something tangled in<BR>domestic life the way<BR>Jane Austen’s
novels tangled<BR>with her knitting her embroidery<BR>whatever it was she hid
them under<BR>I didn’t mean to go into all that<BR>didn’t intend to get
confessional<BR>and tell you how<BR>every time I read a good poem<BR>by a woman
writer I’m always peeking<BR>behind it trying to see<BR>if she’s still
married<BR>or has a lover at least<BR>wanted to know what she did<BR>with her
kids while she wrote it<BR>or whether she had any<BR>and if she didn’t if she’d
chosen<BR>not to or if she did did she<BR>choose and why I didn’t mean<BR>to
bother with that<BR>and I certainly wasn’t going<BR>to tell you about the
time<BR>my best friend was sick in intensive care<BR>and I went down to see
her<BR>but they wouldn’t let me in<BR>because I wasn’t her husband<BR>or her
father her mother<BR>I wasn’t family<BR>I was just her friend<BR>and the
friendship of women<BR>wasn’t mentioned<BR>in hospital policy<BR>or how I went
out and kicked<BR>a dent in the fender of my car<BR>and sat there crying
because<BR>if she died I wouldn’t be able<BR>to tell her how much I loved
her<BR>(though she didn’t and we laugh<BR>about it now) but that’s what got
me<BR>started I suppose wanting to write<BR>a gesture of friendship<BR>for a
woman for a woman writer<BR>for Virginia Woolf<BR>and thinking I could do
it<BR>easily separating the words<BR>from the lives they come from<BR>that’s
what a good poem should do<BR>after all and I wasn’t going to make
excuses<BR>for being a woman blaming years of silence<BR>for leaving us<BR>so
much to say</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0cm; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0cm"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>This started out as a simple poem<BR>for Virginia Woolf<BR>it wasn’t
going to mention history<BR>or choices or women’s lives<BR>the complexities of
women’s friendships<BR>or the countless gritty details<BR>of an ordinary woman’s
life<BR>that never appear in poems at all<BR>yet even as I write these
words<BR>those ordinary details intervene<BR>between the poem I meant to
write<BR>and this one where the delicate faces<BR>of my children faces of
friends<BR>of women I have never even seen<BR>glow on the blank pages<BR>and
deeper than any silence<BR>press around me<BR>waiting their
turn</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0cm; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0cm"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT
face=Arial>Bronwen Wallace</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><SPAN lang=EN-US
style="FONT-FAMILY: "><FONT face=Arial></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Stuart</DIV>
<DIV>(Day 142)</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>