The Octogenarians
Murawski, Elisabeth
Elisabeth Murawski Tke Octogenarians These women speak to themselves. They have stopped cooking Achr meals. In the dark daylight they save do electric bills. They look for letters and pray, in...
...They have lost all their favorite shows, gained wardrobes of slippers and sweaters, nightgowns and robes...
...They are past annoyance at the noise of children...
...They have electric ears they forget to use...
...A blaring radio takes the place of TV...
...By all that is holy, these women corner the listener, fill the air with woes respectful of their age...
...They stand on balconies looking down through the haze on white trellises, climbed trees...
...They prod with gnaried fingeni both rose and thorn and come away smitten by touch their swollen hearts slowed to a footfall, a muffled druti 11 january 1985: 15...
...They return, to the children wiro have moved, pictures and yearbooks, forgotten soavenirs...
...These women read the large-type venuons of Reader's Digest and the Bible, hind-magnify die news...
...They look for letters and pray, in harsh voices that can be overheard, for their survivors...
...Their windows creak open to die sun...
Vol. 112 • January 1985 • No. 1
