I Am Still Waiting for by Lynne Kemen (I AM STILL WAITING Series)

I Am Still Waiting for
by Lynne Kemen

my COVID jab.
And I am still waiting for the woman
in front of me reading
about Meghan and Harry to
move her damned groceries
to the conveyer belt.

I am still waiting for my cat to get up,
Relinquishing the chair formerly known as mine.
I am waiting and waiting for the only
food that my cat can eat to be in stock.

And I am still waiting for daffodils
to poke their yellow heads
out of muddy soil.
And I am still waiting for schools
to let my grandchildren
go back to regular days,
and play with friends,
to learn in-person.

I am still waiting for the sound
of returning geese.
And I am still waiting for my jealousy
about another’s poem to abate.

I am perpetually waiting
for inspiration to land,
and for the newest makeup,
the newest burner of fat,
the newest vitamin to boost my brain.

And I am still waiting for the man
with the dumpster.
I can barely contain myself.

PAINTING: Wild Geese Over Reeds by Huang Yongyu (1977).

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: When I wrote “I Am Still Waiting for,” I tried to think about the things that made me itch to move forward, to get on with things. I wanted to channel Ferlinghetti’s impatience, irritation, hopefulness.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Lynne Kemen lives in the Western Catskills of New York. Five of her poems are featured in Seeing Things: An Anthology of Poetry, Edited by Robert Bensen (Woodland Arts Editions, 2020). Her chapbook, More Than A Handful, was published by Woodland Arts Editions in 2020. Lynne’s work has also appeared in La Presa and Silver Birch Press. She is a Board Member of Bright Hill Literary Press, as well as several other nonprofit organizations.