I don’t feel like an elderly widow, not on the inside, but I am an elderly widow. I’m not housebound – still drive my car, though mostly just around our little town; still eat out with my pals; visit the art gallery; shop; attend writers’ events … but I’m an introvert, liking my own company (and that of my cat) so I don’t go out much. Also, being a writer keeps me at my desk for hours.
When Andrew became more and more impaired, and eventually died, I was his carer. As his loving wife, I was happy to do what I could, but it kept me mostly at home.
Also we’d moved away from the city where we lived for decades, to come here to this small sub-tropical town, leaving behind family, old friends, colleagues.
For all these reasons I love social media! I still mourn the destruction of MySpace, where I met international poets and amazing strong women of my own vintage – but most of us migrated to facebook, where in time lots of Aussie poets also found me. Facebook keeps me in touch with far-flung friends and relatives, and poets and other writers all over the world.
I enjoyed twitter in its early days, and was one of the first tweetpoets, writing to the demands of the platform. But twitter quickly turned into something I couldn’t be bothered with, so I let that one go. I’ve now embraced Instagram, the visual medium where I can have fun with images, and also post screen-shots of poems.
These are places where I enjoy what others post, too. Instagram, for instance, has the most wondrous nature photography.
Now I’ve signed up for a course on using TikTok for book marketing. I’ve never used TikTok, so the idea is daunting but also exciting. I just want to get a tripod first, for my phone camera. Wow, me make videos – that’s a new departure!
Because I’m an elderly widow living alone, social media’s a great blessing to me. It saves me from all the loneliness and disconnection my mother felt, when she was an elderly widow living alone.
on facebook, even
my very private brother –
wonders will never …
Form: haibun.
Written for Friday Writings #113: Modern Marvel at Poets and Storytellers United.
