Write Your Life!: Kindness: A Rictameter

Soon after I was transferred from the hospital to the nursing home for rehabilitation, I was feeling alone and desolate. Along came a member of the Clare staff to offer help. Here is the poem I wrote in honor of her comforting visit:

Kindness

Kindness.

Rachel came to

Offer help, advise, to

Care that I was helpless, hurting,

In despair. She answered questions, offered

Clothing, stamps, and cheer to make my

Day in this, my time of

Need. Thank you for

Kindness.

About Me

I live on the thirty-fifth floor of a senior highrise on Chicago's Gold Coast. I retired in 1999 after 40 years in the English Department of Wilbur Wright College, on Chicago's Northwest Side, where I was department chair for 7 years and Wright's Distinguished Service Professor for 1995-96.

In late 2005, I found myself retired, widowed, 73, and depressed, so I set out to find contentment through reflection and writing. My first published book, Reinventing Myself: Memoirs of a Retired Professor (2006), is a series of personal essays recounting that quest and some of the experiences that came before it. My second is Seniorwriting: A Brief Guide for Seniors Who Want to Write (2007). My third is poetry, Elder Expectations: My Life in Rictameters (2008). My writing also includes a column for eGenerations.com.

I advocate writing for everyone, and hope to encourage my fellow senior citizens to write. I am a member of the Illinois Woman's Press Association, The Story Circle Network, The Authors Marketing Group, and the Chicago Writers Associaion and a volunteer at the Chicago Cultural Center. Please comment on my posts!

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