Old Age

By Shirley Skufca Hickman

“You still have a nice figure,” he says.

I know he’s lying, and he knows I know.

What he means is he remembers how I used to look,

Just as I remember his thick, curly hair,

His strong arms tight around me.
Firm thighs pressed against mine.
Now, not so firm, not so tight.

We close our eyes and remember how we used to be.

His experienced hands know how and where to touch.
Our kisses less exciting but more loving.
We are like sturdy oaks surviving savage winds.
We shade each other from the scorching sun
And give protection from the crippling chill of age.

Copyright © 2020 by Shirley Skufca Hickman

In This Difficult Time

By Shirley Skufca Hickman

Our county of Tulare in California has had 3,000 cases of the coronavirus and 95 deaths. What have I been doing during this difficult time? I’ve made over 100 facemasks for our hospital, three cradle quilts to give to children at Christmas, and revised a romance novel. I’m also writing a book about my days at Cal Poly and my involvement in the Civil Rights Movement.

Interview: Autobiographer Shirley Skufca Hickman

Shirley Skufca, in her years
at Tulare Union High School
(1958-60)

On the 4th volume of her life story

Interviewed by Moristotle

Early on, as I luxuriated in reading Shirley Skufca Hickman’s Rocky Road Is More Than a Candy Bar, I determined that I had to interview Shirley, if for no other reason than to try to find out how she could remember so much of her life of 60 years ago – even stuff about me that I don’t remember. Yes, I am mentioned a few times in the book, which includes the story of her two years as a new teacher at Tulare Union High School – my junior & senior years and, more prominently, William Silveira and Jim Rix’s as well. Bill & Jim have already announced and written about Shirley’s book on Moristotle & Co.
    And as I continued to read, even more intriguing questions arose than how she could remember so much. Let’s see what the questions were, and how she replies to them. They are in italics.