Times and Places

There isn't much I can tell you about time
other than I don't believe in it.
My birth certificate tells that I was born
one cool September evening twenty-one years ago,
but it lies. I am much older than this
and younger just the same.

I am fifteen when I'm in love,
ten when I laugh, thirty-two when
I cradle a child in my arms and
sixty-six when I recollect the past.

New Jersey isn't the only place I've known.
The Pacific whispers to me.
Africa welcomes me and
Italy knows my name.

In a day,I am a series of different women
in different times and places,
but most of the time,I am a young girl
searching for something I've lost
between the stars and my palm.