Reading the Classics discussion

I'm only leaving you
for a handful of days,
but it feels as though
I'll be gone forever—
the way the door closes

behind me with such solidity,
the way my suitcase
carries everything
I'd need for an eternity
of traveling light.

I've left my hotel number
on your desk, instructions
about the dog
and heating dinner. But
like the weather front

they warn is on its way
with its switchblades
of wind and ice,
our lives have minds
of their own.

-Linda Pastan

I haven't read this one. Interesting, it's got quite the tang of bittersweetness to it, like you can't tell if she WANTS life to have a mind of its own and go differently, instead of being stuck in boredom, or if she's really fearful and just has a sense of foreboding. Kind of eerie.

I used to read a lot of LInda Pastan's work. She often has those eerie moments at the end, particularly after setting a weather scene (at least those are the ones I remember most vividly). This poem is a nice choice.