In My Fiftieth Year
By White Bear Woman
life begins calving
like the glacier calves.
Huge chunks breaking free and
giving in to saltwater,
making unexpected waves,
melting slowly.
Kayakers and those in small boats,
vulnerable to unpredictability,
are warned to keep their distance.
I am at once all that is still frozen
and everything that has been set free,
and there is no longer any part of me
that wishes it were otherwise.
©2001 White Bear Woman
White Bear Woman has been writing poetry for most of her life. She has also been a university teacher, a carpenter, a cook on a fishing boat, a kayak guide, a licensed masseuse, a restaurant owner and more. Whatever she does, she doesn't dabble; she plunges all the way in.
"I follow my passion and my heart and they've led me through my life," she says. "I haven't stayed on one path because different things have gotten my attention. That's where my poetry comes from --that place." She has had five books of poetry published.
All work by White Bear Woman
