PROSE POETRY​

NORMA FELSENTHAL GERBER

CITY LADY LOST: A CHRISTMAS MEDITATION


I cannot look at you long raggedy lady, the inelegant design you pose disarrays the smooth skyline I’ve been schooled to admire till it becomes pieces of a puzzle promising no comfortable conclusion. I cannot look at you long raggedy lady: you have walked out of the step of time, your arms do not sport silver jewelry, your legs do not stride in new suede boots: your wardrobe has escaped the seasons lying crumpled in your paper shopping bag or wrapped ‘round you, winter over spring, in permanent cold storage. I cannot look at you long raggedy lady in color crazy costume your body, bony or plumply indifferent, your unfeminine form stuns my well-coifed soul. I cannot look at you long raggedy lady, little ladybug lady, your house is on fire, your children are gone, all fled, so all alone now, dozing in the chrome cold December sun: yoga sitting on unwelcoming concrete. Shoppers shuttle past you, arm in arm, taking polished parcels like apples from the tree, to eat and exchange without you, under the branches of Christ, under the synthetic glow of strings of flickering lights. I cannot look at you long dear lady. I have passed you before, year before year, as we walked prettily alone on these chilly silver’d streets, longing to escape the muteness of our assigned roles, condemned to look at visions of ourselves in mirrors. I cannot look at you long raggedy lady. You are a destiny.
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​Norma Felsenthal Gerber is an Educator (literature, writing)/ Business Journalist (Exec Editor Product Management)/ Photographer (9 books on Amazon). She has poetry in Ariel Chart, Deronda Review, and Quaranzine.