NEAR PROVIDENCE 24.10.21

Avoid young people.

Avoid making eye contact.

Give them right of way

in crowded spaces.

Pretend their condescending

smiles go unobserved.

Grief’s your only good.

Otherwise happiness might

storm your tender heart,

the first night of snow

keep you awake, frail mortal

beauty make it new.

Author: Tom D'Evelyn

Tom D'Evelyn is a private editor and writing tutor in Cranston RI and, thanks to the web, across the US and in the UK. He can be reached at tom.develyn@comcast.net. D'Evelyn has a PhD in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley. Before retiring he held positions at The Christian Science Monitor, Harvard University Press, Boston University and Brown University. He ran a literary agency for ten years, publishing books by Leonard Nathan and Arthur Quinn, among others. Before moving to Portland OR he was managing editor at Single Island Press, Portsmouth NH. He blogs at http://tdevelyn.com and other sites.

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