Lost Years
In Greece, families keep their daughters behind walls,
weapons sensed but not seen. I, too, was raised to be striking
— I could be a stone to strike men.
….. I wanted that. I posed, I was artless. It never occurred to
me to hold the camera, to think of myself as writer.
….. I should have forgotten men. I married a poet, and like a
fool I ironed his pillowcase.
….. In Greece, most women my age wear black. There is
dignity in black, the dignity of loss. I think I could talk with
these women. Then I think, no.
by Nancy Lagomarsino
from The Secretary Parables
Alice James Books, Cambridge, Ma.,1991