For Ms. Gwendolyn Brooks, 1917-2000

By Joy Gonsalves

As far as I could see,
you were too old for me.
You were a lady losing her vision
to those humongous frames.
On the flyer, you wore an even odder expression:
An Aha, an And How, an Is.
“…April 6, 1998: Ms. Gwendolyn Brooks at the Cleveland Public Library.” See whom?
I considered. Maybe next year. In an anthology.
Sometime soon.
And I floated off to loiter with a flirt.