Life That Isn'T Mine Poem by gershon hepner

All the life that isn't mine
depresses me a lot. I wish
that I could like it more than wine
or French fries served without the fish.


In 'Bech at Bay: a Quasi-Novel, ' by John Updike, Bech says: the aged members of a distinguished society of writers, painters and musicians over which Bech presides refuse to nominate any younger members. When Bech is asked, 'Can you read any of these kids? I mean, the ones under 60? ' he confesses: 'New fiction makes me tired. All that life that isn't mine. All that clamoring 'Look at me! '' (From a review by James Shapiro in the NYT, October 24,1998)

10/26/98