“She loved Bingo”
                        don’t let them write that about me
says my mother from behind the morning paper
(yesterday she won a dollar)

                        don’t let them write that about me
says she who listens to Freddie Mercury & Leonard Cohen
(yesterday she won a dollar)
                         tell how I memorized the Hamilton soundtrack

says she who listens to Freddie Mercury & Leonard Cohen
graduated from college, earned her master’s after seven children
                         tell how I was mesmerized by Hamilton
says she who works the crossword puzzle everyday

graduated from college, earned her master’s after seven children
manned the desk at the local library long after she retired
works the crossword puzzle everyday
understood the significance of a good pair of shoes

manned the desk at the local library long after she retired
                        she loved Bingo
understood the absolute necessity of a good pair of shoes
                        but don’t you let them write that about me

Susan Barry-Schulz is a Physical Therapist. Her poetry has appeared in The Five-Two, The Wild Word, Minute Magazine, SWWIM, Foliate Oak Literary Magazine, Shooter Literary Magazine, Barrelhouse online, South Florida Poetry Journal, and most recently in The New Verse News. She is a member of the Hudson Valley Writer’s Center and lives in a lake neighborhood in Putnam County, NY with her husband and one or more of her 3 adult children. It all depends.