The Curse of Seventy-Eight
Mona Mehas
My sister just turned seventy-nine;
I called on her birthday, said congrats.
“I broke the curse!” she said, “Damn the stats!”
I’m afraid to take this as a sign.
Sperm-donor passed at seventy-eight;
my sister just turned seventy-nine.
Sisters called him Dad, with blood aligned—
no, his sperm does not a dad equate.
At seventy-eight, our mother died;
she’d a weak heart and a crooked spine.
My sister just turned seventy-nine—
I’m growing old, my age amplified.
First sister, same age. Was it bloodline?
At dinner, unspoken, thinly veiled
superstition and fear, now exhaled—
my sister just turned seventy-nine.
"The Curse of Seventy-Eight, from my book Hand-Me-Downs (LJMcD Communications, 2024), deals with the day I came to grips with my own mortality.
MONA MEHAS, a Pushcart Prize nominee, writes poetry and prose from the perspective of a retired disabled teacher. She is the author of seven poetry collections, including Resistance and Resilience--Redacted (LJMcD Communications, 2026). Mona has also written two science fantasy novels and is President of the Poetry Society of Indiana, as well as the Indiana co-Leader of Authors Against Book Bans. monamehas.net