Done & Still To Do

[This poem was written in response to the prompt "Bucket List."]

Part 1: Done

I was told to find one soulmate

but that was not for me.

I did have just two children

to meet the ZPG.*

I made a lotta good love

to a lotta good young men.

Kept my cooter happy, but

pro’bly should have stopped at 10.

TA in ‘lectronics

bartender, seamstress, mom

counselor, teacher, secretary

rat trainer with aplomb.

All these jobs just paid the rent;

They never made me wealthy,

but gave me lots to think about

and kept my children healthy.

My mother used to tell me

my choice of what to be:

graduate from college with

a doctoral degree,

become an English teacher

or marry one you see.

Just to try to please my mom,

I went and did all three.

I wrote a funny cookbook, recipes and all

I walked Pocatello and told tales tall

Felt really like a writer when I saw ISBN

Can’t quite believe that all those words

Came out my little pen.

Forty years of yearning

was simply too dang long

but, thanks to Marie the Maven

I learned to play Mah Jongg.

Part 2: Still To Do

I’ll take a lot of photos

and blog them into space.

I wanna start cartooning

and drawing like an ace.

Operate a back-hoe

is still my cherished dream

Tearing up the roadside,

clearing out a stream

Pro’bly still could do this,

‘specially if I buy

Some back-hoe-driving lessons

from a hunky back-hoe guy.

Traipse the streets of Paris

in the light spring rain,

ride my way through Europe

on the Orient Express train,

photograph the Sphinx

and all the pyramids,

visit Scottish castles

and the Stonehenge lids,

see Forbidden City

and the Terracotta Army,

get a job in China

teaching English

‘til I’m barmy.

Be realistic,

I’m only dreaming now.

My only way to China is

by reading Chairman Mao.

And if I do not do all this

before I kick the bucket?

Trust me, I won’t fret and stress,

I’ll just say, “Oh, well. F--k it.”
           --Agatha


*Zero Population Growth