Hats

Hats
By Sandra Miller
Originally published by Storyhouse

Women of old, they say,
liked hats.
Big hats, frilly hats,
pretty Easter bonnets.
Tangible things,
in tangible boxes.

Women of now, I say,
like hats.
Figurative hats,
intangible hats,
that we can change
from one moment to the next.

I've worn many hats,
and you have too
though none of them fit quite right.
I'm a teacher, a writer, a computer programmer--
someone's daughter
and somebody's wife.

And when someone asks me
who I am
invariably, without hesitating
I show them one of my
many hats, as if that represents
all that I am.

Someone very wise once wrote
"When I am an old woman I shall wear purple."
I understand how she feels.
When I am an old woman
I shall put away my hats
my crutches--and simply say
I am me.