In this issue
Edited by Deborah Fries
For
more information about
writing workshops offered by
the Cheltenham Township Adult School, contact:
Cheltenham Township Adult
School
1414 Panther Road
Wyncote, PA 19095
Phone: 215-887-1720
Jan Goldman
one poem
Pneumonia
One day, while I am
minding my own business,
just drifting along
a river starts at
the back of my throat
tossing me this way
and that
as the rapids take
on proportion.
I am left no choice
but to surf it,
gripping on against
the eddies and waves
gasping and
struggling
too breathless to
call for help,
I ride.
The rapids swell
their heights and hold on as long as I do.
Then, giving no
warning and without announcement,
they gentle out.
As if they had
never arched their innards,
foamed at the mouth
only moments before.
And I am left
stranded and silent
swept up on a beach
I never saw before,
scanning the
horizon,
getting my bearings
once more.
Jan Goldman
is a long-time resident of Elkins Park, where she lives with her husband
Nick in the same house in which they raised their three children. When not
writing poetry, Jan is a clinical psychologist in private practice in
Jenkintown.