What do you feel makes life okay?
You are constantly feeling older.
The way people speak is changing.
You no longer know what they want.
What do you mean by that word
Respect? I mean knowing my life
Has been lived for a purpose.
Or purposes. I wake up and think,
All is gone. But then the clarity
Of morning reveals it is not.
Something is here more valuable
Than diamonds, than fame.
What is that something? Do you see
Yourself in other places? I am
Trying not to imagine other places,
But rather to inhabit the place
I actually inhabit. If I am able
To transfer comfort to others, able
To let those younger take the reins,
Then, perhaps, I can live respected.
from Vincent Katz's new book Broadway for Paul (Knopf, 2020). "A virtuoso collection" — Elaine Equi. Photo credit: Vivien Bittencourt (London; May 27, 2016).