Poetry Sunday: Future Plans by Kate Barnes

When I read Kate Barnes' poem last week, I laughed out loud with a feeling of recognition. I know the woman in her poem. In fact, I see her in the mirror every day.

Future Plans

by Kate Barnes

When I am an old, old woman I may very well be
living all alone like many another before me
and I rather look forward to the day when I shall have
a tumbledown house on a hill top and behave
just as I wish to. No more need to be proud—
at the tag end of life one is at last allowed
to be answerable to no one. Then I shall wear
a shapeless felt hat clapped on over my white hair,
sneakers with holes for the toes, and a ragged dress.
My house shall be always in a deep-drifted mess,
my overgrown garden a jungle. I shall keep a crew
of cats and dogs, with perhaps a goat or two
for my agate-eyed familiars. And what delight
I shall take in the vagaries of day and night,
in the wind in the branches, in the rain on the roof!
I shall toss like an old leaf, weather-mad, without reproof.
I’ll wake when I please, and when I please I shall doze;
whatever I think, I shall say; and I suppose
that with such a habit of speech I’ll be let well alone
to mumble plain truth like an old dog with a bare bone.

Comments

  1. mudpuddleOctober 23, 2021 at 11:14 PM

    a pretty good description of how mrs. m's and my life go...

    ReplyDelete
  2. David M. Gascoigne,October 24, 2021 at 5:49 AM

    As a member of the opposite sex, I hereby declare that I will do the same if I am the last left standing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersOctober 24, 2021 at 8:36 AM

      I like the image of tossing "like an old leaf, weather-made, without reproof."

      Delete
  3. jenclairOctober 24, 2021 at 9:18 AM

    Headed that way! "My house shall be always in a deep-drifted mess,
    my overgrown garden a jungle."

    ReplyDelete
  4. The Butterfly ReaderOctober 24, 2021 at 12:17 PM

    This is going to be when I'm older. No doubt!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lark October 24, 2021 at 12:21 PM

    I love this poem! I want to be like that when I'm old and a bit tumbled down myself.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AlanaOctober 24, 2021 at 5:13 PM

    That will be me, if I make it to that age. I know it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Pam's English GardenOctober 24, 2021 at 8:12 PM

    This octogenarian hasn't reached that stage in her life yet, but it is something to look forward to! Fun poem! P x

    ReplyDelete
  8. reeseOctober 24, 2021 at 9:42 PM

    Ha! That does sound like a very good place to be! A lovely poem.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Deb Nance at ReaderbuzzOctober 25, 2021 at 7:50 AM

    "I rather look forward to the day when I shall have
    a tumbledown house on a hill top and behave
    just as I wish to."

    I've got plans for a Widows' Home to be situated in the mountains near the ocean beside the forests and there is plenty of room for you...

    ReplyDelete

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