I am deeply opposed
to the whole idea of bucket lists –
also goal-setting and all other
kinds of rah-rah geeing-up.
Instead (and in protest)
I have devised
an empty-the-bucket list:
things I can cross off
as no longer ever
having to do.
The older I get, the more
I can dismiss. The ageing body
means no-one, not even
my somewhat-indoctrinated self
(it’s hard to altogether escape
prevailing social opinion)
has any hope of persuading me
into stuff I really cringe from.
E.g. I never never never, now,
need to sky-dive, bungee-jump,
or plank. I needn’t even
try to climb mountains.
I am not obliged to
master Spanish,
let alone Japanese.
I need not even begin them.
I have travelled
and I loved it, but now
I may enjoy the view
from my armchair.
(The trouble with travel
is not the places, but
getting through the airports. Ugh!
Now I can eschew them –
and also congratulate myself
on not-flying being kinder
for our beloved planet.)
I don’t have to dress for success,
nor to please any male eye
any corporate code, any
fashion rules for older women.
I can look like a hippy if I want to,
or a slob, or just someone
over eighty with an imperfect body
and a love of colour and comfort.
I don’t have to read any book
because it’s worthy – only
if it’s fun and gorgeous and I want to.
Nor see any movie ditto.
I am excused from engaging
with Serious Ideas,
or having my emotions harrowed
in the interests of confronting
The World As It Is. Believe me,
I’ve done enough confronting.
I don’t have to rub my nose
in that stuff any more,
to know how bad it smells.
It’s far too late to become
a Perfect Mother,
a Great Beauty,
a Good Cook – or even
a half-way decent gardener.
(Two of those things I never ever
really wanted to, so there!
I do like eating good food
and seeing beautiful gardens;
I just don’t want to be the one
to have to create these delights.)
It’s lovely to sit back, relax,
and contemplate all the things
I never have to do,
tossing them blithely
out of that damn bucket.
Written for Friday Writings #80 at Poets and Storytellers United, where we are invited to write about something on our bucket list. Our word limit is 369 (excluding title). I was gratified to find that when I'd finished this outpouring with very little tweaking, it came to exactly 369 words!
