ELLEN B. RYAN

The Road Now

Retiring from paid work
I stop to see where I am

follow the echoes
of projects heralded
for grit and wit

touch the ribbed weave
of disciplines colourful
in their crossing

sniff the ricochet
of novel thoughts
tearing through
tough peels
of assumptions

taste the chocolate cherry joy
of collaborations where
three minds surpass
possibility

What road now

worth the pilgrimage

Ellen B. Ryan
Tower Poetry, 58(1), 2009

ELLEN B. RYAN

Ellen B. Ryan is Professor Emeritus at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
She focuses her psychological research on communication and aging, especially
fostering personhood in dementia through communication. She has created the Writing
Down Our Years Series of publications to highlight the many ways in which writing
life stories can benefit older adults and those with whom they share their stories and
poems. She is co-author with Karen Bannister of Ability Speaks: Communicating with
a Person with Disability (2009). She is co-editor of the anthology Celebrating Poets
Over 70 (2010) and Writing as a Spiritual Practice (2011). Ryan belongs to Tower
Poetry Society and publishes poems occasionally. She serves as host for the website:
www.writingdownouryears.ca.