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Home » Famous Poems » Erica Jong » Flying at Forty

Flying at Forty

by 
 You call me
courageous, 
I who grew up
gnawing on books,
as some kids
gnaw
on bubble gum,

who married disastrously
not once
but three times,
yet have a lovely daughter
I would not undo
for all the dope
in California.


Fear was my element,
fear my contagion.

I swam in it
till I became
immune.

The plane takes off
& I laugh aloud.

Call me courageous.


I am still alive.
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