Time for a New Forecast

I wrote this five years ago.

A woman divided

Continuing my half-assed attempts
At Buddhism,
I declare that in five years I will be
A full-time author, a full-time poet
And a full-time believer in my purpose
Here on earth.

Tenure?

Right, okay, then, in five years I will be
(insert all of the above)
and I will be tenured as an associate
professor, which means that I will have to start publishing yesterday which means that
I should be doing some research right now
Instead of writing, damn, and I need to learn how to teach my White students so that they
Will not crucify me in my evaluations and don’t forget
That I must be a good Black girl in the eyes of my colleagues.

That noise must be
My biological clock ticking
In a watch set strategically six minutes ahead.

The list grows

(insert all of the above)
and in five years I will have 2.5 children, one in kindergarten
one that’s terribly two and another ready to pop out, like
Athena, a girl genius who will manage better than I have.

One more thing…strike that. I think I should probably just
Make another list; they’re much more efficient
Given that I have to (insert all of the above)
Strengthen my marriage

Find religion

Shrink down two dress sizes
Plan for my parents’ old age
Save for my old age
Take that trip up to the mountains by myself that I’ve been dreaming about and…

Right. Start over.

In five years, I will be
a full-time author, a full-time poet
And a full-time believer in
My purpose here on earth.