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Jane Olmsted
Dream of Extraordinary Ease
Sometimes there’s utter collapse
neither can move
and things that had disappeared
reappear
the flickering blue television light
arguments gun fights car chases
the dog groans and stretches
the furnace kicks on
across the skin a small frostiness
and we pull up the covers
You reach for my hand
or maybe I reach for yours
Somewhere in the world
our grown children are living
On weekends they call
or when they need something
like reassurance or money or our voice
Maybe this is our american dream
a dream of extraordinary ease
where love finds its expression
in the everyday way you smile at me
when I say something amusing
or the way this flush of desire
when you know the answer to my puzzlement
or can reach the highest shelf
leaves me grounded here on earth
my heart rushing toward you
©2005 by Jane Olmsted
Jane Olmsted is director of the Women's Studies Program at Western Kentucky University and associate professor of English. She earned her Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. Her work has been published in Poetry Northwest, Nimrod, Beloit Fiction Journal, Kalliope, and A Kentucky Christmas. She is co-founder and co-editor of the Kentucky Feminist Writers Series, which has produced three collections, one each of poetry, fiction, and life writing.
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