Women and Poetry

I just returned from a poetry reading that was part of Meramec's celebration of Women's History Month. One of the readers mentioned the short lives of male wasps. When I got up to read "Old Amusement Park" by Mary Ann Moore, I mentioned the similar short lives of male ants. Males don't seem to have long life spans in the world of insects.

I went to the reading to listen. But a colleague said I would read, and gave me the book of Moore's poems. There was one poem I liked but couldn't pronounce the last word and didn't know the word's meaning. Gagesse, I think. Then I saw "Old Amusement Park." Late last week I went to New York City, landing at LaGuardia, which looked as if it had always been there. But the subtitle of Moore's poem was "Before LaGuardia Airport." Evidently, the park was razed to make way for the airport. That was interesting to learn.