Like Rilke says, “Don’t write about love!”
So I write about not writing about love.
While I’m at it may I say, some days
I think Tina’s got it: fraught
though her pronouncement may be,
that love has nothing to do with it.
My friend said, “But didn’t you say
that love was life’s answer?”
I deny it, I replied (but maybe lied,
trying diligently not to
write about love?).
“Too trite” Rilke said,
to write about love and besides,
those way above you
have occupied the field and wield
far greater talents than you;
a shame to waste the space
and reader’s time
with your puerile words
and absurd thoughts
about love, he implied.
(I lied. I write about love.)
Ann Grogan is a joyful octogenarian, pianophile, and retired lawyer living in San Francisco, CA. Her writing promotes the unequivocal permission to pursue one’s passions at any age, especially music. Her poems have appeared in Rue Scribe, Querencia, Amethyst Review, Whims of the Wilderness, The Prairie Review, New Verse News, Dissident Voice, and Writers Resist, among others. She was named a semifinalist for The Writing Salon’s 2025 Jane Underwood Poetry Prize and for Leftie Blondie’s chapbook competition. Find her at rhapsodydmb.com.