Open Arms
July 20 2009


She was good in an emergency.
It was the every day
she had trouble with.

This woman of a certain age,
who loved men too much
to stay with one.
Who could cook up a storm,
but left the whirlwind
for the rest to clean up.
Who never owned anything,
but made herself at home
wherever she was.

She couldn’t resist
a road-trip
anywhere warm.
She sought out the adrenaline fix,
the high-octane fuel-injected lift-off.
She danced with her eyes shut,
content to live in her head
but thrilled to have you join her there.
Needless to say, she was always late,
if she showed-up at all.

So I was surprised, impressed
to see her focus
when the alarm went off
the lady was robbed
no one could stop
the bleeding.
A good woman to take charge,
when time went too fast
for the rest of us.

But let her get bored
and she was off —
her man confused
and helpless;
her kids
coping hard,
as usual;
and her friends
juiced when she appeared,
feeling as if all the light in the world
shone only on them.


This is called "Open Arms" as an homage to the novel of the same name by Marina Endicott, since it was inspired by her character Isabelle. I confess, I didn't read it; I cheated by listening to the audio-books version (on CBC's "Between the Covers" series of podcasts). Still, pretty impressive for a first novel!