STILL TIME TO RE-INVENT?

I find this notion of re-invention to be a slippery one and probably a recent one.
But for Tom Brady's sake , I hope it is  truly not too late for him.

Reinvention

by Eric Nixon

At one age

It seems as if life is going

Firmly in a certain direction

And you head that way

Chugging along at full speed

But then

Things change

Sharply

And after a time set adrift

In a place that's unfamiliar

And completely unknown

From where you thought

From where you planned on being

Stunned, wondering what happened

Some people in this place

Break down completely

Pining away for the life

They feel is due to them

They feel should be theirs

Some people though

Go through a period

Of introspection

And experience

A type of reinvention
Where they pick themselves up
And rebuild their lives
With what they've been given
With what they have in-hand
And are surprised to see
They are now in a better place
Than they would have been
Before the life-altering change

We are all a bit stunned and maybe even a little inspired by Tom Brady's decision to leave the Patriots.  How will he look in the Tampa Bay Buccaneer's uniform and  not the familiar red-white and blue of the Patriots?

I can't picture it but I cheer his  choice to  leave the niggling--DO YOUR JOB-- begrudging attitude of his coach and to see what he can accomplish in a new place.  
He is  not old but he is old for  a quarterback and he chose a team with some real  weapons in terms of the  receivers he so lacked once Gronk stepped away. 

In this season of the corona virus and total social isolation--which my age and disability already have dealt me--it gives me  something to look forward to watching unfold.

I am also in the phase of re-invention that the poem describes. I am  involved both intellectually and emotionally in researching the life of a left activist of the 30s and 40s Anne Burlak Timpson who was called THE RED FLAME .


She actually ran for Mayor of Pawtucket on a Communist ticket! 

I remember my mother talking about her when she was a textile worker--ALL HER LIFE FROM 14 YEARS TO 64--  she mentioned that she had  heard Anne Burlak speak. 

My mother was active in trying to start unions in various factories where she worked and was the shop steward  when she was at Darlington Fabrics. She called Anne the RED FLAME--she had brilliant red hair-- and she said  "I was not afraid to listen to her."

That statement sums up my mother's sense of fair play : everyone has a right to an opinion and she was never afraid to listen to  them and make up her own mind.

I am trying to re-invent my self as a playwright now after  many years of care taking and not writing plays.  I hope it comes back to me like swimming or riding a bike. 

And I wish TOM BRADY GREAT SUCCESS IN HIS REINVENTION AT TAMPA BAY

“Reinvention” by Eric Nixon from Equidistant. © Double Yolk Press, 2019.