Front Porch Review
A literary magazine for the young at heart and mind

I have known old women and old men, too
One old woman I know carries a young woman in her bones
Many old men long to resurrect their youth
This old woman is like the wind
She is the reason the lake stirs
Plentiful are her children in the four corners
Her caring like rain nourishes even weeds

Her neighbors do not suspect such vitality
She looks irrelevant, a kindly
old soul who needs help with her groceries
Her magic manifests when they're not looking
She does not hide
Giving and getting is all the same for her
I dread her loss, but she may never die.

By Jo Stewart

Jo Stewart: “Retirement has been an opportunity to have the time to read great books, to share with contemporaries and to write poems when the muse visits."