In Her Place

I want a little place
Up off of the highway,
Just south of the brambles
Where I can burn trash--
Like my grandma's place was
After her husband died,
When she didn't have to pretend to like football,
Or to pretend not to.

She could read whatever she wanted to,
Like the Phenomenon of Man
Or the Epic of Gilgamesh,
Or other titles banned by the local library.
Hell, she could drive herself to Abilene and go to the library there if she wanted to.
She could do whatever the hell she wanted
Whenever the hell she wanted to do it,
Cause she'd outlived the fads of her day.
She'd outlived the curses,
And all the rest of her so called obstacles.
She'd outlived her problems,
And now she was out--
Living her life as her own.
Yeah.
I wanna place like that.

-jenn long