Talking about life & culture in New Orleans
Reece Burkaauthor
NolaVie

The poetic city: “Living Her Life Backwards”

May 17, 2021 • Creative Writing, Uncategorized

The clocks of life have us saying, “not yet, not yet.” (Photo: Wiki Commons)

“Living Her Life Backwards”

I have a friend who believes
in living life backwards.
When she realized that
numbering her days would
allow her to live each one
to the fullest, she declared
her intention to die by the time
she’s 70… not by suicide
but by force of will.
She said she’d rather go
too soon than too late.
She figured 70 years would be
enough to take advantage of
the best life has to offer and
get out while the getting is still good.
Meanwhile my friend is busy
rehabbing her new hip and
checking the dates of Jazzfest,
just in case she’s still with us
when she passes 70.
Reece Burka
5/14/2021

Comments

You must login to post a comment. Need a ViaNolaVie account? Click here to signup.
Recent Posts on ViaNolaVie
Reviving history: Dear New Orleans city council, save the second lines! As New Orleans begins to reopen after the pandemic, New Orleans's culture that people love and the city loves to advertise will come back. In this letter to the city council, Morgan Maschler explains why the second lines of New Orleans need to be protected and why they may be at risk. ViaNola NOLAbeings Multimedia artist Claire Bangser created NOLAbeings as a portrait-based story project that marries... NolaVie Voodoo in New Orleans: Reviving history: New Orleans fortune telling This article takes a deep dive into the history of Voodoo in New Orleans, its hybridization with Catholicism, and its present-day place in the city's culture. The author visits fortune-tellers in the French Quarter, using their guidance as a tool for introspection rather than a deterministic predictor of the future. Through her experiences in New Orleans, the author feels a mystical connection to both the past and the future. ViaNola
View Content Archive
Related Content
NolaVie
The poetic city: “Until The Day After Forever”
Creative Writing
NolaVie
The poetic city: “Serendipity” (The little Buddha part II)
Creative Writing
NolaVie
The poetic city: “The Little Buddha in the Woods” Part I
Creative Writing