Thanks for these Gray Hairs

by Jane Hertenstein

Image credit: Clément Falize on Unsplash

Thanks for these gray hairs

Thanks for these weird discolored spots

(liver marks?)

Thanks for my thunder thighs—

They help me to climb the stairs

Thanks for wind in my pipes

(to climb the stairs)

Thanks that I can sing

Thanks that I sing badly

Thanks for stretch marks

Thanks for a great big ass

Thanks for the gaps in my teeth

because without these teeth I would never be able to

eat Little Debbie Nutty Bars, Hot Tamale candy, and

those addictive restaurant-style tortilla chips.

Thanks for the flab under my arms—

they’re like little bat wings!

Thanks for gratitude

because even with this funky body of mine

I know that I’m alive.

that I’m not dead.

Thanks for one more day

to dance naked.

***

Jane Hertenstein

Jane Hertenstein is the author of over 100 published stories both macro and micro: fiction, creative non-fiction, and blurred genre. In addition she has published two MG novels and a non-fiction project, Orphan Girl: The Memoir of a Chicago Bag Lady, which garnered national reviews. Jane is the recipient of a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. Her writing has been featured in the New York Times. She teaches a workshop on Flash Memoir and can be found blogging at http://memoirouswrite.blogspot.com/