To my grandmother

I put my ear to your belly and listened
to the phantasmal tune of my life,

we were a desolate pair of decoupage outlaws,
who went to church services each Sunday morning
and night.

I sat on your lap and plucked rogue hairs
from your chin as I felt the buzz of that belly
churning a hymnal song for me to hum to.

You paid me in piles of change
and made me bargain at the lot sales,
a quiet babe counting her quarters
just to impress you.

I always think of you
when I smell tomatoes in the garden,
it just gets me back to where you are,
still living inside all those antiques you'll leave behind.

We'll divvy them up between the three of us
and I can finally open that trunk
you've been boasting about to me
since I was born.

I can finally open up that damn trunk and cry when you're dead.

I'll keep all your bibles
because no one else will think to save them
and I know how important they are to you.

They're somehow filled with the memory
of rain on the tin roof of your house
we'll probably lose

and bones of chickens
buried in the backyard
because of the coop
that was there before we came along

and with those baby mice you laid to rest that one time,

when I found them squirming in your chest of drawers.

Somewhere in the gold lined pages
is that abused dog that we got
from a newspaper ad,
the mascot of our relationship.


If you remember how,
put me up on your lap
and let me graze upon my love for you,
while you scratch my back like old time,

because I don't think we have much left.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

this is amazing...two misfits, scorned by others, but so close in their connection...making them stronger despite what others are thinking...and those quarters...my grandmother had a thing about giving me quarters in New Jersey...i would buy a rubber ball...bounce it against the buildings behind hers...and lose it on the roofs...she would offer me another and my dad would say no...
i love the mice squirming in the chest of drawers...and the idea of the belly talking...

they tend to do that.

and the dog as the mascot of the relationship...all three of you so accepting of each other.

j.

[alanwgraham]

This is great. A very affectionate portrait of your relationship with your grandmother.
All the little details give it a very authentic feel.
Well done. Alan
I have a similar poem called 'dad the clock's stopped' about memories of my grandparents.
Alan

[d]

quite fascinated. this is a list that touches deep in reading. it is taking me to a place i've never been and i love to travel. it is personal to you but allowed for me, so thanks.

[Bruce]

very powerful imagery. I would do a lot of the same things with my grandmother as well.

[M. Shepherd]

This makes me nostalgic for people I never knew.

[W.k.kortas]

I have very little to add to what the wise Jacob has said, save to say that I wish I had written this.

[. serah .]

-- i wish there was more time for the precious poetry of memories and moments... unravelling as this poem unravels and life unravels too... when there's someone so important in our vicinity...