Out walking

I ask myself

How do I look?

Aging white woman

short brown hair

sticking out

in odd directions

average height

casual dress, no makeup

body on the sturdy side

but I carry my years well

still functional

still smiling

and still mothering

endless children

 

But today

looking out

from inside my eyes

at the rainy hills

and the wet road

and the gentle people

it strikes me

It’s not how I look

that is important.

It’s that I look,

and how I do that looking.

That is the Fact

and the Act

that is Sacred and

Most Wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not how I look

 

Out walking

I ask myself

How do I look?

Aging white woman

short brown hair

sticking out

in odd directions

average height

casual dress, no makeup

body on the sturdy side

but I carry my years well

still functional

still smiling

and still mothering

endless children

 

 

 

But today

looking out

from inside my eyes

at the rainy hills

and the wet road

and the gentle people

it strikes me

It’s not how I look

that is important.

It’s that I look,

and how I do that looking.

That is the Fact

and the Act

that is Sacred and

Most Wonderful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not how I look

Trudi Lee Richards

Trudi Lee Richards, writer and poet-bard of Silo’s Message, is the author of Confessions of Olivia; On Wings of Intent, a biography of Silo; Soft Brushes with Death; Fish Scribbles; and Experiences on the Threshold. In the pre-internet past she published Human Future, an independent review published from 1989-96 in San Francisco, CA; and was co-founder of La Mamelle, a San Francisco arts publication from the '70s. A graduate of Stanford University, she is the mother of five grown kids/stepkids and five step grandkids. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon.