Peaches Gillette read these two poems on Saturday, April 27, 2019, as part of the Tompkins County Public Library Readathon fundraising event.
Maybe I Should
Maybe I should move away to some remote place
where the trees stand ceremoniously tall
and the sun is forever setting.
There
I will embrace the quiet of my inner world —
speak no words — have no voice —
I will just listen,
Tenderly listen
to the whispers of all those who have suffered —
Those who still want to tell and retell their stories through the movement of the wind,
through the falling of the rain,
through the understanding
that we whose souls ache through time
will be forever one.
Maybe I should take all the metal I've collected over all these years
and get back to building the rocket ship I dreamed of building long ago.
I would take off,
fade into the pitch-blue of the night sky
throw kisses to my old friend the moon
and sketch along the contour of the universe
fueled by an urge to find home.
Maybe I should count backwards each time I have a birthday
and get younger and younger
with each breath I take.
This undoing of my aging self
will not be about any regret of growing older -
it will be about meeting my child-self again -
revisit the time I left behind
and linger, playfully,
in the details of days gone by.
Maybe I should go back into the dream I had last night and try to find my mother;
she sounded sad.
She wanted me to come and be with her,
but her voice trailed off into silence
before she could tell me where she was.
Second Sight
Sometimes I see more clearly with my second sight.
It is the sight that originates in the soul,
finds its way into the heart,
and spiritually crystallizes what I see in the world, and in others.
My eyes explore the composition and the delicateness of their perfect form.
My darling granddaughters -
their bodies young and free in this old world.
I gaze at their sweet lips forming words in whispered tones.
I listen to the secrets that only exist in the world of girls.
They dance for me -
another secret.
Their young bodies are hopeful and strong
like the beginning of a new day.
They watch me
making sure I don't look away.
You see Grandma Peach? We know how to do a split.
Their observant and socially curious eyes take- in and repeat all the latest dance moves.
They are exquisite visions of life in one of its greatest states -
moving,
energized,
growing-
pulsating spectacles of loveliness.
They are visions of grace
becoming a part of who I need to be.
I watch,
I cannot take my eyes off them.
I feel tears
rising from the deepest place of my love for them -
rising like a swelling body of water,
baptizing them
and carrying them to Holy lands within my very being.
They ask, Why are you crying Grandma Peach?
I say because you are so beautiful,
like the beauty of the sun
and sometimes so much beauty makes me cry.
They look deep into my eyes.
We share one of those special moments
in which we see one another
as clearly as one see the heavens.
Their dancing goes on.
I continue to watch
with both my first
and my second sight
